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 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 263 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 263

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

                            January 11, 2021

    Mr. Quigley (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. 
  Buchanan, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Waltz, Mr. McNerney, and Mr. 
   Womack) 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, or a Federal facility registered with the 
                Department of Agriculture that exhibits animals, if 
                such entity or facility holds such license or 
                registration in good standing and if the entity or 
                facility--
                            ``(i) does not allow any individual to come 
                        into direct physical contact with a prohibited 
                        wildlife species, unless that individual is--
                                    ``(I) a trained professional 
                                employee or contractor of the entity or 
                                facility (or an accompanying employee 
                                receiving professional training);
                                    ``(II) a licensed veterinarian (or 
                                a veterinary student accompanying such 
                                a veterinarian); or
                                    ``(III) directly supporting 
                                conservation programs of the entity or 
                                facility, the contact is not in the 
                                course of commercial activity (which 
                                may be evidenced by advertisement or 
                                promotion of such activity or other 
                                relevant evidence), and the contact is 
                                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--
                                            ``(aa) reflects established 
                                        conservation science 
                                        principles;
                                            ``(bb) incorporates genetic 
                                        and demographic analysis of a 
                                        multi-institution population of 
                                        animals covered by the plan; 
                                        and
                                            ``(cc) promotes animal 
                                        welfare by ensuring that the 
                                        frequency of breeding is 
                                        appropriate for the species;
                            ``(ii) 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 sufficient to prevent public 
                        contact;
                    ``(B) a State college, university, or agency, or a 
                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 any 
                        prohibited wildlife species, including 
                        offspring, parts, and byproducts of such 
                        animals;
                            ``(iii) does not breed any prohibited 
                        wildlife species;
                            ``(iv) does not allow direct contact 
                        between the public and any prohibited wildlife 
                        species; and
                            ``(v) does not allow the transportation and 
                        display of any prohibited wildlife species off-
                        site;
                    ``(D) 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 
                species; or
                    ``(E) an entity or individual that is in possession 
                of any 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 such Act, the 
                        entity or individual registers each individual 
                        animal of each prohibited wildlife species 
                        possessed by the entity or individual 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 is deemed to have been 
        committed in the district where 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 shall, in consultation with other 
        relevant Federal and State agencies, promulgate any regulations 
        necessary to implement section 3(e).''.
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