The EU united block vote
Another political obstacle to scientific
wildlife management in CITES

On Monday evening’s special session the US Proposal 5 to remove the bobcat (Lynx rufus) from CITES Appendix II was withdrawn in Committee I by its proponent the US. The US apparently decided to withdraw the proposal rather than to suffer the certain embarrassment of defeat at the hands of the EU block, which had promised to oppose the downlisting.

The bobcat had originally been listed on Appendix II because of a so-called “look alike” problem …the abundant species was claimed by some to possibly be confused with rarer forms of Lynx species that occur in Canada, Mexico and the mountains of Spain, so the ostensible reason for keeping bobcat on Appendix II was to protect the rare Lynx species.

The US withdrew a proposal to downlist a species that exists throughout North America and is estimated at 1,000,000 animals. Bobcat skins do not closely resemble those Lynx species that were used in the EU objection to Proposal 5. The EU objection to the US Proposal 5 promised to take with it, a number of EU-influenced other Parties, as well, and this promise of “negative consensus” convinced the US to give up its bobcat management effort.

Once again, listing criteria were not a part of the consideration of the action taken. This episode is a sorry reflection on the present state of CITES.