Title: Big Cat Public Safety Act
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Big Cat Public Safety Act
This bill revises requirements governing the trade of big cats (i.e., species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Specifically, it revises restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including to restrict direct contact between the public and big cats.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2561 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2561

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 26, 2019

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Van Hollen, 
Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Reed, Mr. Markey, 
 Mr. Booker, and Ms. Harris) introduced the following bill; which was 
  read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 
                                 Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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--
            ``(1) to negligently or intentionally facilitate 
        propagation or reproduction; and
            ``(2) 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 striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
    ``(e) Captive Wildlife Offense.--
            ``(1) In general.--It is unlawful for any person--
                    ``(A) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, 
                acquire, or purchase any prohibited wildlife species--
                            ``(i) in interstate or foreign commerce; or
                            ``(ii) in a manner substantially affecting 
                        interstate or foreign commerce; or
                    ``(B) 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, or a Federal facility registered with the 
                Department of Agriculture that exhibits animals, if 
                that entity or facility--
                            ``(i) holds that license or registration in 
                        good standing;
                            ``(ii) does not allow any individual to 
                        come into direct physical contact with a 
                        prohibited wildlife species, unless--
                                    ``(I) that individual is--
                                            ``(aa) a trained 
                                        professional employee or 
                                        contractor of the entity or 
                                        facility (or an accompanying 
                                        employee receiving professional 
                                        training); or
                                            ``(bb) a licensed 
                                        veterinarian (or a veterinary 
                                        student accompanying that 
                                        veterinarian); or
                                    ``(II)(aa) that individual is 
                                directly supporting conservation 
                                programs of the entity or facility; and
                                    ``(bb) the contact is--
                                            ``(AA) not in the course of 
                                        commercial activity (which may 
                                        be evidenced by advertisement 
                                        or promotion of that activity 
                                        or other relevant evidence); 
                                        and
                                            ``(BB) incidental to humane 
                                        husbandry conducted pursuant to 
                                        a species-specific, publicly 
                                        available, peer-edited 
                                        population management and care 
                                        plan that has been provided to 
                                        the Secretary with 
                                        justifications that the plan 
                                        reflects established 
                                        conservation science 
                                        principles, incorporates 
                                        genetic and demographic 
                                        analysis of a multi-institution 
                                        population of animals covered 
                                        by the plan, and promotes 
                                        animal welfare by ensuring that 
                                        the frequency of breeding is 
                                        appropriate for the species; 
                                        and
                            ``(iii) 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 of 
                        any of those animals, the animal is not less 
                        than 15 feet from members of the public unless 
                        there is a permanent barrier sufficient to 
                        prevent public contact;
                    ``(B) a State college, university, or agency;
                    ``(C) a State-licensed veterinarian;
                    ``(D) a wildlife sanctuary that--
                            ``(i) cares for prohibited wildlife 
                        species;
                            ``(ii) is a corporation that is--
                                    ``(I) exempt from taxation under 
                                section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue 
                                Code of 1986; and
                                    ``(II) described in sections 
                                501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of that 
                                Code;
                            ``(iii) does not commercially trade in any 
                        prohibited wildlife species, including 
                        offspring, parts, and byproducts of prohibited 
                        wildlife species;
                            ``(iv) does not breed any prohibited 
                        wildlife species;
                            ``(v) does not allow direct contact between 
                        the public and any prohibited wildlife species; 
                        and
                            ``(vi) does not allow the transportation 
                        and display of any prohibited wildlife species 
                        off-site;
                    ``(E) an entity that has custody of any 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 prohibited wildlife species; or
                    ``(F) an entity or individual that--
                            ``(i) is in possession of any prohibited 
                        wildlife species that was born before the date 
                        of enactment of the Big Cat Public Safety Act;
                            ``(ii) not later than 180 days after the 
                        date of enactment of that Act, registers each 
                        individual animal of each prohibited wildlife 
                        species possessed by the entity or individual 
                        with the United States Fish and Wildlife 
                        Service;
                            ``(iii) does not breed, acquire, or sell 
                        any prohibited wildlife species after the date 
                        of enactment of that Act; and
                            ``(iv) does not allow direct contact 
                        between the public and any 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) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``(e),'' 
                after ``(d),''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``(e),'' 
                after ``(d),'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), in the first sentence, by inserting 
        ``(e),'' after ``(d),''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Captive wildlife.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any person who knowingly 
                violates section 3(e) shall be fined not more than 
                $20,000, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
                    ``(B) Separate offenses.--Each violation under 
                subparagraph (A) shall be--
                            ``(i) a separate offense; and
                            ``(ii) deemed to have been committed in 
                        both the district in which the violation first 
                        occurred and 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, in consultation with other relevant 
        Federal and State agencies, shall promulgate any regulations 
        necessary to implement section 3(e).''.

SEC. 7. TECHNICAL CORRECTION.

    Section 4(e), and subsections (a) and (b)(2) of section 8, of the 
Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(e), 3377) are amended by 
striking ``Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976'' each place 
it appears and inserting ``Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act''.
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