Title: Big Cat Public Safety Act
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Big Cat Public Safety Act
This bill amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit any person from breeding or possessing prohibited wildlife species (i.e., any live species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Breeding means facilitating propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or negligently), or failing to prevent propagation or reproduction.
The bill revises the list of entities that are exempt from Lacey Act prohibitions regarding those wildlife species to include: (1) certain entities that hold Class C licenses in good standing under the Animal Welfare Act, and (2) current owners of animals that were born before this bill's enactment if the animals are registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Those entities and owners may not allow direct contact between the public and the prohibited wildlife species.
A person who knowingly violates the prohibition must be fined not more than $20,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both. The bill considers each violation to be a separate offense. The offense must be deemed to have been committed not only in the district where the violation first occurred, but also in any district in which the defendant may have taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife species.
The bill extends forfeiture provisions to fish, wildlife, or plants that are bred or possessed.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1818 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1818

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 30, 2017

 Mr. Denham (for himself, Mr. Jones, Mr. Farenthold, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. 
 Gaetz, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Ross, and Mr. Johnson of Ohio) 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Big Cat Public Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 
U.S.C. 3371) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (k) as 
        subsections (b) through (l), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so redesignated) 
        the following:
    ``(a) Breed.--The term `breed' means to facilitate propagation or 
reproduction (whether intentionally or negligently), or to fail to 
prevent propagation or reproduction.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Consolidated farm and rural development act.--Section 
        349(a)(3) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
        U.S.C. 1997(a)(3)) is amended by striking ``section 2(a)'' and 
        inserting ``section 2(b)''.
            (2) Lacey act amendments of 1981.--
                    (A) Section 3(e)(2)(C) of the Lacey Act Amendments 
                of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3372(e)(2)(C)) is amended--
                            (i) in clause (ii), by striking ``section 
                        2(g)'' and inserting ``section 2(h)''; and
                            (ii) in clause (iii), by striking ``section 
                        2(g)'' and inserting ``section 2(h)''.
                    (B) Section 7(c) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 
                1981 (16 U.S.C. 3376(c)) is amended by striking 
                ``section 2(f)(2)(A)'' and inserting ``section 
                2(g)(2)(A)''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS.

    Section 3 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3372) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking the 
                        semicolon at the end and inserting ``; or'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by striking 
                        ``; or'' and inserting a semicolon; and
                            (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); and
                    (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ``(1) through 
                (3)'' and inserting ``(1) through (3) or subsection 
                (e)''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
    ``(e) Captive Wildlife Offense.--
            ``(1) In general.--It is unlawful for any person to import, 
        export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in 
        interstate or foreign commerce, or in a manner substantially 
        affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or to breed or 
        possess, any prohibited wildlife species.
            ``(2) Limitation on application.--Paragraph (1) does not 
        apply to--
                    ``(A) an entity exhibiting animals to the public 
                under a Class C license from the Department of 
                Agriculture and that holds such license in good 
                standing, if the entity--
                            ``(i) has not been, and does not employ any 
                        person engaged in animal care who has been, 
                        convicted of or fined for an offense involving 
                        the abuse or neglect of any animal pursuant to 
                        any State, local, or Federal law;
                            ``(ii) has not had, and does not employ any 
                        person who has had, a license or permit 
                        regarding the care, possession, exhibition, 
                        breeding, or sale of animals revoked or 
                        suspended by any State, local, or Federal 
                        agency, including the Department of 
                        Agriculture, within the preceding 3-year 
                        period;
                            ``(iii) has not been cited by the 
                        Department of Agriculture under the Animal 
                        Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) within the 
                        preceding 12-month period for any repeat 
                        violation for--
                                    ``(I) inadequate veterinary care;
                                    ``(II) handling that causes stress 
                                or trauma or a threat to public safety;
                                    ``(III) insufficient provisions of 
                                food or water; or
                                    ``(IV) failure to allow facility 
                                inspection;
                            ``(iv) does not allow any individual other 
                        than a trained professional employee or 
                        contractor of the licensee (or an accompanying 
                        employee receiving professional training) or a 
                        licensed veterinarian (or an accompanying 
                        veterinary student) to come into direct 
                        physical contact with a prohibited wildlife 
                        species;
                            ``(v) ensures that during public exhibition 
                        of a lion (Panthera leo), tiger (Panthera 
                        tigris), leopard (Panthera pardus), snow 
                        leopard (Uncia uncia), jaguar (Panthera onca), 
                        cougar (Puma concolor), or any hybrid thereof, 
                        the animal is at least 15 feet from members of 
                        the public unless there is a permanent barrier 
                        that prevents public contact or risk of 
                        contact;
                            ``(vi) does not breed any prohibited 
                        wildlife species unless the breeding is 
                        conducted pursuant to a species-specific, 
                        publicly available, peer-reviewed population 
                        management plan developed according to 
                        established conservation science principles;
                            ``(vii) maintains liability insurance in an 
                        amount of not less than $250,000 for each 
                        occurrence of property damage, bodily injury, 
                        or death caused by any prohibited wildlife 
                        species possessed by the person; and
                            ``(viii) has a written plan that is made 
                        available to local law enforcement, State 
                        agencies and Federal agencies on request, for 
                        the quick and safe recapture or destruction of 
                        prohibited wildlife species in the event a 
                        prohibited wildlife species escapes, including, 
                        but not limited to, written protocols for 
                        training staff on methods of safe recapture of 
                        the escaped prohibited wildlife species;
                    ``(B) a State college, university, or agency, or 
                State-licensed veterinarian;
                    ``(C) a wildlife sanctuary that cares for 
                prohibited wildlife species, and--
                            ``(i) is a corporation that is exempt from 
                        taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal 
                        Revenue Code of 1986 and described in sections 
                        501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code;
                            ``(ii) does not commercially trade in 
                        prohibited wildlife species, including 
                        offspring, parts, and byproducts of such 
                        animals;
                            ``(iii) does not breed the prohibited 
                        wildlife species;
                            ``(iv) does not allow direct contact 
                        between the public and prohibited wildlife 
                        species; and
                            ``(v) does not allow the transportation and 
                        display of prohibited wildlife species off-
                        site;
                    ``(D) has custody of the prohibited wildlife 
                species solely for the purpose of expeditiously 
                transporting the prohibited wildlife species to a 
                person described in this paragraph with respect to the 
                species; or
                    ``(E) an entity or individual that is in possession 
                of a prohibited wildlife species that was born before 
                the date of the enactment of the Big Cat Public Safety 
                Act, and--
                            ``(i) not later than 180 days after the 
                        date of the enactment of the Big Cat Public 
                        Safety Act, the entity or individual registers 
                        each individual animal of each prohibited 
                        wildlife species with the United States Fish 
                        and Wildlife Service;
                            ``(ii) does not breed, acquire, or sell any 
                        prohibited wildlife species after the date of 
                        the enactment of such Act; and
                            ``(iii) does not allow direct contact 
                        between the public and prohibited wildlife 
                        species.''.

SEC. 4. PENALTIES.

    (a) Civil Penalties.--Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments 
of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(e),'' after ``(d),''; and
            (2) by inserting ``, (e),'' after ``subsection (d)''.
    (b) Criminal Penalties.--Section 4(d) of the Lacey Act Amendments 
of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ``(e),'' after 
        ``(d),'';
            (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ``(e),'' after 
        ``(d),'';
            (3) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``(e),'' after ``(d),''; 
        and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Any person who knowingly violates subsection (e) of 
        section 3 shall be fined not more than $20,000, or imprisoned 
        for not more than five years, or both. Each violation shall be 
        a separate offense and the offense shall be deemed to have been 
        committed not only in the district where the violation first 
        occurred, but also in any district in which the defendant may 
        have taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife 
        species.''.

SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF PROHIBITED WILDLIFE SPECIES.

    Section 5(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 
3374(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ``bred, possessed,'' before 
``imported, exported,''.

SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION.

    Section 7(a) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 
3376(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) The Secretary shall, in consultation with other 
        relevant Federal and State agencies, promulgate any regulations 
        necessary to implement section 3(e).''.
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