[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19110-S19111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LAUTENBERG:
  S. 1493. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 
certain interstate conduct relating to exotic animals; to the Committee 
on the Judiciary.


            THE CAPTIVE EXOTIC ANIMAL PROTECTION ACT OF 1995

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Capitive 
Exotic Animal Protection Act of 1995, a bill to stop what are known as 
canned hunts--the cruel and inhumane business in which a customer pays 
to shoot a tame, captive exotic animal in a fenced-in enclosure for 
entertainment, or to collect a trophy.
  Mr. President, canned hunts do not involve hunting, tracking, or 
shooting skills. In such an operation, the client merely hands over a 
check, walks to within yards of his prize, aims carefully to avoid the 
head, and shoots, killing the unsuspecting exotic animal. This is not 
sport--it is easy slaughter for a price. Sportsmen do not support this, 
and neither should we.
  Mr. President, imagine this: A black leopard, raised in captivity, is 
released from a crate in the presence of a paying hunter and is 
immediately surrounded by a pack of hounds. The cat, virtually 
defenseless because it has been declared and is greatly outnumbered by 
the hounds, tries to escape by running under a truck. The hounds follow 
the leopard who then darts from under the truck slightly ahead of the 
pack. The customer gets his shot--and his trophy.
  Mr. President, in the United States today, there are estimated to be 
more than 1,000 private hunting ranches where exotic mammals are shot 
for a fee. Many of these hunting ranches have a land area of 1,000 
acres or less--some are less than 100 acres. The animals are tame 
targets for hunters and the proprietors of these operations 

[[Page S19111]]
offer a guaranteed kill opportunity for their clients. It is called no 
kill, no pay. The animals are shot at point blank range--with bow or 
firearm--and have no chance of eluding a hunter.
  These hunting operations provide a laundry list of potential trophies 
for hunters. For a fee, a hunter can kill whatever animal he or she 
wishes. Gazelles typically sell for $800 to $3,500; Cape buffaloes, 
$5,000; angora goats, $325; Corsican sheep, $500; red deer, $1,500 to 
$6,000. The rarer the animal--lions and tigers, for instance, the 
higher the price.

  I want to emphasize, Mr. President, that most sportsmen decry these 
despicable practices as unsporting. They say that canned hunts make a 
mockery of hunting. The Boone and Crockett Club, a hunting organization 
founded by former President Teddy Roosevelt that maintains records of 
North America's big game, takes the position that ``hunting game 
confined in artificial barriers, including escape-proof fenced 
enclosures or hunting game transplanted solely for the purpose of 
commercial shooting'' is ``unfair chase and unsportsmanlike.'' In 1994, 
in the publication Outdoor America, the magazine of the pro-hunting 
Izaak Walton League, Maitland Sharpe, the organization's executive 
director at the time, stated that this practice ``tarnishes all 
hunting, all hunting. . . .''
  The American Zoo and Aquarium Association [AZA] forbids its 
membership organizations from selling, trading, or transfering zoo 
animals to hunting ranches, though the prohibition too often is 
ignored. The AZA opposes canned hunts, and has written to Members of 
Congress that it ``(a) deplores and is opposed to canned hunts of 
exotic animals and (b) supports the prohibition of interstate practices 
which allow exotic animals to be killed in such hunts.''
  Mr. President, exotic hunting ranches threaten native wildlife 
populations with the spread of disease. If these ranch animals escape, 
they can transmit diseases to native wildlife. John Talbott, acting 
director of the Wyoming Department of Fish and Game, stated in January 
of this year, ``Tuberculosis and other diseases documented among game 
ranch animals in surrounding states'' pose ``an extremely serious 
threat to Wyoming's native big game.'' This is one reason why Wyoming 
bans canned hunts. Other States also ban these hunts, including 
California, Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. 
However, States that permit these operations import exotic mammals from 
other States--including those that prohibit canned hunts--and victimize 
these animals in unsporting canned hunts. Federal legislation is needed 
to ban the interstate trade in exotic mammals for the purpose of 
shooting them for a fee to collect a trophy.
  Federal legislation is also needed because exotic mammals are not 
carefully regulated by the States. Exotic mammals often fall outside 
the traditional range of responsibility for State fish and game 
agencies. They fall outside the purview of State agriculture 
departments. Exotic mammals--not being native wildlife or livestock--
are in a sense, caught in regulatory limbo. This lack of oversight by 
State agencies allows canned hunt operators to exploit these animals 
for profit.
  My legislation is identical to a similar bill that has been 
introduced in the House, H.R. 1202. The bill would ban only those 
operations of 1,000 acres or less in which tame animals are shot for a 
fee for the purposes of collecting a trophy. Larger hunting ranches, 
where the animals are provided with some room to maneuver, are exempt. 
The hunting of native wildlife would not be affected in any way. The 
House bill has attracted strong bipartisan support, with over 100 
cosponsors to date.
  Mr. President, this legislation is needed to put a stop to this 
amoral, cruel business. I urge my colleagues to support me in this 
effort, and ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1493

       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 ``Captive Exotic Animal 
     Protection Act of 1995''.

     SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION OR POSSESSION OF EXOTIC ANIMALS FOR 
                   PURPOSES OF KILLING OR INJURING THEM.

       (A) In General.--Chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, 
     is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 48. Exotic animals

       ``(a) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign 
     commerce, knowingly transfers, transports, or possesses a 
     confined exotic animal, for the purposes of allowing the 
     killing or injuring of that animal for entertainment or the 
     collection of a trophy, shall be fined under this title or 
     imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
       ``(b) As used in this section--
       ``(1) the term `confined exotic animal' means a mammal of a 
     species not historically indigenous to the United States that 
     in fact has been held in captivity for the shorter of--
       ``(A) the greater part of the animal's life; or
       ``(B) a period of one year; whether or not the defendant 
     knew the length of the captivity; and
       ``(2) the term `captivity' does not include any period 
     during which the animal--
       ``(A) lives as it would in the wild, surviving primarily by 
     foraging for naturally occurring food, roaming at will over 
     an open area of at least 1,000 acres; and
       ``(B) has the opportunity to avoid hunters.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the beginning the following new item:
``48. Exotic animals.''.
                                 ______