Raul Ruiz voted Yea (Passage) on this Legislation.
Read statements Raul Ruiz made in this general time period.
Title: Big Cat Public Safety Act
Vote to pass a bill that amends requirements governing the trade, possession, and exhibition of big cats, including restrictions on direct contact between the public and big cats.
Prohibits the importing, exporting, transporting, selling, receiving, acquiring, or purchasing, breeding, and possessing of any prohibited wildlife (Sec. 3).
Specifies that any person who knowingly violates the above prohibition will be fined up to $20,000, imprisoned for up to 5 years, or both (Sec. 4).
Specifies that the above prohibition does not include (Sec. 3):
An entity that exhibits animals to the public under a Class C license from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) or a federal facility registered with the USDA that exhibits animals and it:
Does not allow any individual to come into direct physical contact with a prohibited wildlife species unless that individual is:
A trained professional employee or contractor of the entity or facility;
A licensed veterinarian; or
Directly supporting conservation programs of the entity or facility, the contact is not in the course of commercial activity, and the contact is incidental to humane husbandry conducted for a specifies-specific, publicly available, peer-edited population management and care plan that has been provided to the USDA Secretary;
Ensures that during a public exhibition of a lion, tiger, leopard, snow leopard, jaguar, cougar, or any hybrid, the animal is at least 15 feet from members of the public unless there is a permanent barrier sufficient to prevent public contact;
A state college, university, agency, or a state-licensed veterinarian;
A wildlife sanctuary that cares for prohibited wildlife specifies and:
Does not commercially trade in any prohibited wildlife, including their offspring, parts, or byproducts of such animals;
Does not breed any prohibited wildlife specifies;
Does not allow direct contact between the public and prohibited wildlife specifies; and
Does not allow for the transportation and display of prohibited wildlife species off-site;
Has custody of any prohibited wildlife species solely for the purpose of expeditiously transporting the wildlife species to a person described with respect to the species; or
An entity or individual that is in possession of any prohibited wildlife species that was born before this bill’s date of enactment.
Title: Big Cat Public Safety Act