AR-News: Captive Wildlife Safety Act

Tue Apr 27 18:27:35 EDT 2004

Captive Wildlife Safety Act:  $3 Million Tax Dollars a Year Going Where?

On the 19th of December 2003, George W. Bush signed the Captive Wildlife Safety Act into law.[1] Since then, misconceptions about this law have proliferated on an international scale. England's Green Consumer Guide reported the law under the misleading heading "Exotic pets banned in U.S."[2] So-called exotic pets are not banned by this legislation, which addresses interstate commerce, not ownership.[3] The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which supported the law, stated that it "would not ban all private ownership of prohibited species; rather, it would outlaw the commerce of these animals for use as pets."[4] Sarah Tyack of the International Fund for Animal Welfare expressed approval for the law, stating, "At least now shipping wild animals, like tigers, across state lines will be restricted."[5]  

But would it?

The law, which adjusts the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 "to further the conservation of certain wildlife species," specifies that the only animals to whom it applies are big cats -- namely, "any lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar species, or any hybrid of such a species."[6] Most of these cats (tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars and Eastern cougars) are already on the U.S. Endangered Species List, and given that the Lacey Act already prohibits animals barred by the Endangered Species Act from being sold across state lines unless the parties obtain are permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), any protection afforded by this revision is dubious at best.

As passed, the law exempts imports, transport or sale of the cats by anyone "licensed  or  registered,  and  inspected, by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or any  other Federal agency with respect to that species" -- which would include the FWS.[7] Licensees from the American Zoological Association, the Department of Agriculture, and the FWS are exempt from the ban, and the same loopholes used now for interstate transference of endangered species will continue to be used to transport big cats.  Prior to passage of the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, exempted parties would have had to obtain a special permit from the FWS to take cats listed as "endangered" across state lines. Now, against any groups who attempt to end the import and ownership of free-living animals in their state or local area, the federal Captive Wildlife Safety Act will be likely held up, incorrectly, as indicating that federal legislation already addresses their concerns.[8]

The Captive Wildlife Safety Act, it appears, was yet another legislative "slam-dunk" for animal charities -- one that accomplishes little if anything for nonhuman animals. 

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[1] Public Law No. 108-191appropriates $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2008.

[2] Green Consumer Guide, Greenmedia Publishing Ltd., England (8 Jan. 2004).

[3] Many thousands of big cats are currently owned and kept as pets across the country.

[4] From the HSUS Internet description at http://www.hsus.org/ace/14793 (visited 7 Jan. 2003).

[5] Green Consumer Guide (8 Jan. 2004).

[6] Section 2, Definition of Prohibited Wildlife Species.

[7] See Section 3(e), Prohibited Acts, Nonapplicability of Prohibited Wildlife Species Offense.

[8] Numerous sanctuary advocates have consequently opposed the law, and have worked to inform the public about possible detrimental effects; however, in the face of praise for the law from large charities such as the Humane Society of the United States and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, warnings by the sanctuary community have largely gone unreported.  

Source:  "Movement Watch" in ActionLine (quarterly magazine of Friends of Animals, Spring 2004).

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