I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4122 
To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to clarify provisions enacted 
by the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, to further the conservation of certain 
wildlife species, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 1, 2012 
Mr. MCKEON (for himself, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. FARR, 
and Mr. KUCINICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to clarify 
provisions enacted by the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, 
to further the conservation of certain wildlife species, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Big Cats and Public 
Safety Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The global illicit trade in wildlife may be 
worth up to $20,000,000,000 annually and the value 
of United States legal wildlife trade was recently es-
timated at $2,800,000,000 annually. 
(2) The illegal trade in prohibited wildlife spe-
cies (as that term is defined in the Lacey Act 
Amendments of 1981) stimulates demand and ex-
pands markets in which those species can be illegally 
sold. 
(3) The private ownership of and commerce in 
prohibited wildlife species has a substantial and det-
rimental effect on the health and general welfare of 
the American people and on the species themselves. 
(4) Activities related to prohibited wildlife spe-
cies that are not an integral part of the interstate 
or foreign commerce in such species, such as private 
ownership and possession, nonetheless have a sub-
stantial and direct effect upon interstate commerce 
because— 
(A) after breeding, many prohibited wild-
life species are transported in interstate com-
merce; and 
(B) privately owned prohibited wildlife spe-
cies have been transported in interstate com-
merce before transfer of ownership. 
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(5) Private ownership of prohibited wildlife spe-
cies contributes to swelling the interstate traffic in 
those species. 
(6) Prohibited wildlife species in private owner-
ship or possession, or distributed intrastate, are fun-
gible commodities that cannot be differentiated from 
prohibited wildlife species possessed or distributed 
interstate. Thus, it is not feasible to distinguish, in 
terms of control, between prohibited wildlife species 
in private ownership or possession or distributed 
intrastate and prohibited wildlife species possessed 
and distributed interstate. 
(7) Federal control of the intrastate private 
ownership and breeding of prohibited wildlife species 
is essential to the effective control of the interstate 
incidents of traffic in such species. 
(8) The United States is a party to the Conven-
tion on International Trade in Endangered Species 
of Wild Fauna and Flora, which was designed to 
protect species of wild fauna and flora against over- 
exploitation through international trade. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 2 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 
U.S.C. 3371) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(l) BREED.—The term ‘breed’ means to facilitate 
the reproduction of a prohibited wildlife species for com-
mercial use.’’. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITIONS. 
Section 3(a) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 3372(a)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by adding ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon at 
the end of subparagraph (A); and 
(B) by striking subparagraph (C); 
(2) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon at the 
end of paragraph (3), by redesignating paragraph 
(4) as paragraph (5), and by inserting after para-
graph (3) the following: 
‘‘(4) subject to subsection (e), to import, export, 
transport, sell, receive, acquire, purchase, breed, pos-
sess, or own any prohibited wildlife species; or’’; and 
(3) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, by 
striking ‘‘(1) through (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) 
through (4)’’. 
SEC. 5. NONAPPLICABILITY OF OFFENSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3(e) of such Act (16 
U.S.C. 3372(e)) is amended— 
(1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-
lows: 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a)(4) does not 
apply to— 
‘‘(A) importation, exportation, transpor-
tation, sale, receipt, acquisition, breeding, pos-
session, ownership, or purchase of an animal of 
a prohibited wildlife species, by a person that, 
under regulations prescribed under paragraph 
(3), is described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), 
or (D) paragraph (2) with respect to that spe-
cies; and 
‘‘(B) transportation, possession, or owner-
ship of an animal of a prohibited wildlife spe-
cies, by a person that, under regulations pre-
scribed under paragraph (3), is described in 
subparagraph (E) of paragraph (2) with respect 
to that animal.’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) is a zoo accredited by the Association 
of Zoos and Aquariums;’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (C)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘is an accredited’’; 
(ii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’; 
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(iii) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘or’’ 
and inserting ‘‘and’’; and 
(iv) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(v) does not allow the transport and 
display of animals off-site;’’; 
(C) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) is in possession of one or more ani-
mals of the prohibited wildlife species, that— 
‘‘(i) were born before the date of en-
actment of this subparagraph; and 
‘‘(ii) are registered with the Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service within 
6 months after the date of promulgation of 
regulations implementing this subpara-
graph by the Secretary of the Interior and 
the Secretary of Agriculture.’’. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act the Secretary of the In-
terior, acting through the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service, and the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, shall pro-
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mulgate regulations implementing the amendments made 
by this section. 
SEC. 6. PENALTIES. 
(a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of such Act 
(16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)(4),’’ after ‘‘subsections’’; 
and 
(2) by striking ‘‘subsection (d)’’ and inserting 
‘‘subsection (a)(4), (d),’’. 
(b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of such Act 
(16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ 
after the comma at the end; 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘or’’ 
after the comma at the end; and 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 
the following: 
‘‘(C) knowingly violates paragraph (4) of 
section 3(a),’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, or in the 
exercise of due care should know that the conduct 
violates paragraph (4) of section 3(a),’’ after ‘‘treaty 
or regulation’’. 
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SEC. 7. FORFEITURE. 
Section 5(a) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 3374(a)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘bred, pos-
sessed, owned,’’ after ‘‘acquired,’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘breeding, possessing, 
owning,’’ after ‘‘acquiring,’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘or involved the breeding, 
possession, or ownership of a prohibited wildlife 
species’’. 
Æ 
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