It was a discussion that divided a packed house at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Wildlife District One building, Wednesday night.
The topic: a proposed trapping season for bobcats in the state of Ohio.
"It is only about trappers being able to trap and kill bobcats for recreation and for selling their furs," Jeffrey Crecelius said.
"They need to check their facts," Keith Daniels said. "Plain and simple."
Daniels is with the Ohio State Trappers Association. He says the proposal has been in the works for years and science backs up the argument for a trapping season. He says anyone who speaks against it is misinformed.
"It's a combination of misleading statements to downright lies," he said. "That's all it is."
Those opposed to the proposal say trapping is inhumane and cruel. They also argue more science is needed to make this decision and that bobcats are not a nuisance species.
"They're not a nuisance," Crecelius said. "They're not causing disease. They're not over-populating. There's no problem relating to the wild bobcat."
The Ohio Wildlife Council heard arguments for and against the trapping, Wednesday night. Nine spoke against the proposal. Two talked in favor.
If approved, the season would be from Nov. 10, 2018, to Jan. 31, 2019.
If you live in Zone A, bobcats are off limits. Zone B can trap 20 and Zone C can trap 40. Once 60 cats are bagged the season would be over.
"It's just another opportunity for the utilization of a natural resource," National Trappers Association member, Dave Linkhart said. "And that's what we're all about."
Heather Cantino lives in Athens (Zone B) and she traveled 85 miles for Wednesday's meeting just to voice opposition.
"Because this is an outrageous, dangerous, ill-advised, poorly-planned proposal," she said.
Something else those opposed don't like is that Ohio University began a population modeling survey for bobcats in 2017. The survey is supposed to last until 2020. Without that evidence, some say trapping is unfounded.
"They don't have a viability analysis that would tell them how many bobcats could be safely trapped without endangering the population, again," Cantino said.
Bobcats in Ohio were taken off the endangered species list in 2014 after a survey showed the population of the cat reached about 1,000.
The Ohio Wildlife Council is expected to vote on this matter in May. ODNR says the trapping season would not impact the bobcat mating season and it's needed to provide estimates of unbiased demographic rates to inform bobcat population modeling.