I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4819

To amend the Wildlife Services Program of the Department of Agriculture

to emphasize the use of nonlethal methods of predator control for livestock protection and to target assistance under the program to operators

of small farms and ranches through grants, training, and research regarding the use of nonlethal methods to predator control.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 10, 2000

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Wildlife Services Program of the Department

of Agriculture to emphasize the use of nonlethal methods

of predator control for livestock protection and to target

assistance under the program to operators of small farms

and ranches through grants, training, and research regarding the use of nonlethal methods to predator control.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL FARM AND RANCH OP2 ERATORS TO USE NONLETHAL MEANS OF

3 PREDATOR CONTROL UNDER WILDLIFE

4 SERVICES PROGRAM FOR LIVESTOCK PRO5 TECTION.

6 Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1931 (7 U.S.C.

7 426a), is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL FARM AND RANCH OPER9 ATORS TO USE NONLETHAL MEANS OF PRED10 ATOR CONTROL FOR LIVESTOCK PROTEC11 TION.

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

13 ‘‘(1) LETHAL PREDATOR CONTROL.—The term

14 ‘‘lethal predator control’’ means a lethal method to

15 control the population of a wild animal that preys on

16 domestic livestock or otherwise interferes with live17 stock operations, including such methods as aerial

18 gunning, shooting, denning, leghold trapping,

19 conibear trapping, neck and body snaring, and poi20 soning.

21 ‘‘(2) NONLETHAL PREDATOR CONTROL.—The

22 term ‘‘nonlethal predator control’’ means a method

23 to prevent, or reduce the likelihood of, a wild animal

24 preying on domestic livestock or otherwise inter25 fering with livestock operations that does not involve

26 the destruction of the animal, including such meth-
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1 ods as the use of livestock herders, dogs, burros, or

2 llamas to guard livestock, night penning of livestock,

3 and improved fencing.

4 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’

5 means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through

6 the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of

7 the Department of Agriculture.

8 ‘‘(4) SMALL RANCH OPERATION.—The term

9 ‘‘small ranch operation’’ means a farm or ranch that

10 generates not more than $250,000 in gross revenues

11 annually, as determined by the Secretary.

12 ‘‘(5) WILDLIFE SERVICES PROGRAM.—The term

13 ‘‘Wildlife Services Program’’ means the activities au14 thorized by the first section of this Act.

15 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE RESTRICTED TO SMALL RANCH

16 OPERATIONS.—In carrying out Wildlife Services Program

17 operations designed to protect livestock and livestock oper18 ations from wild animals injurious to animal husbandry,

19 the Secretary shall restrict those operations to small ranch

20 operations that the Secretary determines—

21 ‘‘(1) involve the raising of the types of livestock

22 most at risk to damage from wild animals; and

23 ‘‘(2) are located in those areas where the need

24 for predator control is greatest, rather than those
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1 areas where predator control has traditionally oc2 curred.

3 ‘‘(c) EMPHASIS ON NONLETHAL PREDATOR CON4 TROL.—The Secretary shall emphasize the use of non5 lethal predator control methods, rather than lethal pred6 ator control methods, as the preferred way to protect live7 stock and livestock operations under the Wildlife Services

8 Program.

9 ‘‘(d) GRANTS TO IMPLEMENT NONLETHAL PRED10 ATOR CONTROL.—Using funds made available for Wildlife

11 Services Program operations, the Secretary shall make

12 grants to operators of small ranch operations and associa13 tions composed primarily of operators of small ranch oper14 ations to assist an operator or association to implement

15 and use nonlethal predator control to prevent, or reduce

16 the likelihood of, wild animals preying on livestock or oth17 erwise interfering with livestock operations.

18 ‘‘(e) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

19 Using funds made available for Wildlife Services Program

20 operations, the Secretary shall provide operators of small

21 ranch operations with training and technical assistance re22 garding the availability of nonlethal predator control op23 tions and the use of nonlethal predator control in their

24 livestock operations.

25 ‘‘(f) RESEARCH.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con2 duct research, directly or through grants with appro3 priate entities, to determine the following:

4 ‘‘(A) The extent of the damage to livestock

5 and livestock operations, particularly in western

6 States, resulting from the depredations of pred7 atory and other wild animals.

8 ‘‘(B) The environmental consequences of

9 conducting Wildlife Services Program oper10 ations, particularly lethal predator control, to

11 prevent or reduce predator damage to livestock

12 and livestock operations.

13 ‘‘(C) The effectiveness of lethal predator

14 control and nonlethal predator control under

15 the Wildlife Services Program to protect live16 stock and livestock operations.

17 ‘‘(D) The overall populations of specific

18 wildlife and predatory species on a regional,

19 rather than State-by-State basis, with emphasis

20 given to monitoring viable wildlife populations.

21 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION ON SHEEP LOSSES.—As one

22 of the research projects conducted under paragraph

23 (1), the Secretary shall enter into agreements with

24 wool producers or other appropriate entities in not

25 more than 12 sheep-raising districts in the western
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1 States, with varying degrees of predation problems,

2 to promptly report sheep losses to predators in order

3 to more accurately determine the extent to which

4 predatory animals cause damage to the wool indus5 try despite the use of, or in the absence of, lethal

6 predator control and nonlethal predator control.

7 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall

8 submit to Congress an annual report describing the

9 results of the research projects conducted under this

10 subsection.

11 ‘‘(4) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use funds

12 made available for Wildlife Services Program oper13 ations to carry out this subsection.’’.

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