[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4819 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 4819

To amend the Wildlife Services Program of the Department of Agriculture 
   to emphasize the use of nonlethal methods of predator control for 
  livestock protection and to target assistance under the program to 
  operators of small farms and ranches through grants, training, and 
  research regarding the use of nonlethal methods to predator control.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 10, 2000

   Mr. Udall of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Wildlife Services Program of the Department of Agriculture 
   to emphasize the use of nonlethal methods of predator control for 
  livestock protection and to target assistance under the program to 
  operators of small farms and ranches through grants, training, and 
  research regarding the use of nonlethal methods to predator control.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL FARM AND RANCH OPERATORS TO USE 
              NONLETHAL MEANS OF PREDATOR CONTROL UNDER WILDLIFE 
              SERVICES PROGRAM FOR LIVESTOCK PROTECTION.

    Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1931 (7 U.S.C. 426a), is amended 
to read as follows:

``SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL FARM AND RANCH OPERATORS TO USE 
              NONLETHAL MEANS OF PREDATOR CONTROL FOR LIVESTOCK 
              PROTECTION.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Lethal predator control.--The term ``lethal predator 
        control'' means a lethal method to control the population of a 
        wild animal that preys on domestic livestock or otherwise 
        interferes with livestock operations, including such methods as 
        aerial gunning, shooting, denning, leghold trapping, conibear 
        trapping, neck and body snaring, and poisoning.
            ``(2) Nonlethal predator control.--The term ``nonlethal 
        predator control'' means a method to prevent, or reduce the 
        likelihood of, a wild animal preying on domestic livestock or 
        otherwise interfering with livestock operations that does not 
        involve the destruction of the animal, including such methods 
        as the use of livestock herders, dogs, burros, or llamas to 
        guard livestock, night penning of livestock, and improved 
        fencing.
            ``(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
        Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Animal and Plant 
        Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture.
            ``(4) Small ranch operation.--The term ``small ranch 
        operation'' means a farm or ranch that generates not more than 
        $250,000 in gross revenues annually, as determined by the 
        Secretary.
            ``(5) Wildlife services program.--The term ``Wildlife 
        Services Program'' means the activities authorized by the first 
        section of this Act.
    ``(b) Assistance Restricted to Small Ranch Operations.--In carrying 
out Wildlife Services Program operations designed to protect livestock 
and livestock operations from wild animals injurious to animal 
husbandry, the Secretary shall restrict those operations to small ranch 
operations that the Secretary determines--
            ``(1) involve the raising of the types of livestock most at 
        risk to damage from wild animals; and
            ``(2) are located in those areas where the need for 
        predator control is greatest, rather than those areas where 
        predator control has traditionally occurred.
    ``(c) Emphasis on Nonlethal Predator Control.--The Secretary shall 
emphasize the use of nonlethal predator control methods, rather than 
lethal predator control methods, as the preferred way to protect 
livestock and livestock operations under the Wildlife Services Program.
    ``(d) Grants To Implement Nonlethal Predator Control.--Using funds 
made available for Wildlife Services Program operations, the Secretary 
shall make grants to operators of small ranch operations and 
associations composed primarily of operators of small ranch operations 
to assist an operator or association to implement and use nonlethal 
predator control to prevent, or reduce the likelihood of, wild animals 
preying on livestock or otherwise interfering with livestock 
operations.
    ``(e) Training and Technical Assistance.--Using funds made 
available for Wildlife Services Program operations, the Secretary shall 
provide operators of small ranch operations with training and technical 
assistance regarding the availability of nonlethal predator control 
options and the use of nonlethal predator control in their livestock 
operations.
    ``(f) Research.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct research, 
        directly or through grants with appropriate entities, to 
        determine the following:
                    ``(A) The extent of the damage to livestock and 
                livestock operations, particularly in western States, 
                resulting from the depredations of predatory and other 
                wild animals.
                    ``(B) The environmental consequences of conducting 
                Wildlife Services Program operations, particularly 
                lethal predator control, to prevent or reduce predator 
                damage to livestock and livestock operations.
                    ``(C) The effectiveness of lethal predator control 
                and nonlethal predator control under the Wildlife 
                Services Program to protect livestock and livestock 
                operations.
                    ``(D) The overall populations of specific wildlife 
                and predatory species on a regional, rather than State-
                by-State basis, with emphasis given to monitoring 
                viable wildlife populations.
            ``(2) Information on sheep losses.--As one of the research 
        projects conducted under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
        enter into agreements with wool producers or other appropriate 
        entities in not more than 12 sheep-raising districts in the 
        western States, with varying degrees of predation problems, to 
        promptly report sheep losses to predators in order to more 
        accurately determine the extent to which predatory animals 
        cause damage to the wool industry despite the use of, or in the 
        absence of, lethal predator control and nonlethal predator 
        control.
            ``(3) Annual report.--The Secretary shall submit to 
        Congress an annual report describing the results of the 
        research projects conducted under this subsection.
            ``(4) Funding.--The Secretary shall use funds made 
        available for Wildlife Services Program operations to carry out 
        this subsection.''.
                                 <all>