HELENA — Wildlife officials are proposing to keep confidential the names of hunters and trappers who kill any wildlife in Montana, saying that information that can be obtained under the state’s right-to-know laws is being used to threaten and harass.

An existing state law already bars Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks from disclosing identifying information about hunters who kill bears, mountain lions or wolves. This proposal would expand that confidentiality to trappers and include all game animals, furbearers or other species under the department’s management.

The Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans to introduce a bill in the 2015 legislative session. The confidential information would include just those who have taken an animal, not all licensed hunters and trappers, Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said. The state agency tabulates information such as the name and address of the hunter or trapper and the location of the kill, which is now public information except in the case of bears, mountain lions and wolves.

The proposal comes after Montana lawmakers in 2013 made confidential the previously public information of people with concealed weapons permits, a move made by many other states across the nation. Aasheim said the passage of the concealed-carry bill did not influence the decision of the wildlife agency to introduce its bill.

Wildlife officials received complaints that information was being used to harass and threaten hunters and trappers, Aasheim said. He was unable to provide specific examples or say how many complaints the agency received.

“There was not a lot, but some hunters and trappers expressed a concern that it potentially — well, it made them uncomfortable,” Aasheim said. “So we decided we would pursue this. It’s a result of some public concern.”

Other hunters and trappers complained that they don’t want information about their secret spots to be available to the public, he said.

The key will be balancing the public’s right to know with an individual’s right to privacy, particularly where it involves personal health and safety. That is a matter for state lawmakers to decide, Aasheim said.

“We think it ought to be public policy debate,” he said.

There has been intense debate about trapping since wildlife officials began allowing the practice two years ago. Anti-trapping advocates say it is inhumane and results in the inadvertent capture of pets and other species, while trappers say it is just another way to manage and control the population of an animal.

An anti-trapping group this year tried and failed to place a citizen’s initiative on the ballot that would have banned trapping on most public lands.

The head of that group, K.C. York, said she has no interest in looking up the names of trappers, and she does not condone harassment. However, she said the signature-gatherers for her initiative were often harassed by individuals who support trapping, and she would like to see additional protections put in place — and existing ones enforced — for them.

“It seems like so many of these rules or changes or regulations or proposals are out to protect the trappers,” said York, who is the head of Trap-Free Montana Public Lands. “Personally, it doesn’t matter to me if their names are confidential. On the flipside, where are the protections for everybody else?”