Sponsors (3)
The bill allows registered institutions to legally hold certain previously prohibited species and provides administrative clarity while imposing new registration and operational limits that raise compliance costs and could reduce protections for some leopard species.
Zoos, sanctuaries, and similar institutions can legally possess and transfer certain previously prohibited species if they register with USFWS, allowing continued conservation, research, and public education uses.
Registered entities must halt breeding and commercial trade in these species, reducing commercial propagation and likely lowering risks of illegal trafficking tied to commercial markets.
Entities that already qualified for exceptions get a clear administrative path to cancel or correct registrations, reducing regulatory uncertainty and compliance burden for compliant holders.
Private owners and institutions must register each individual animal with USFWS, creating new paperwork, time costs, and compliance expenses for nonprofits and taxpayers.
Registered holders lose the ability to breed, sell, or commercially exhibit the registered prohibited species, which can reduce revenue streams for facilities that relied on those activities.
Narrowing import/export exceptions to only compliant entities may cause trade and transfer delays with foreign partners and impose additional administrative burdens on institutions that move animals internationally.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a registration pathway and export/import permissions for certain holders of otherwise prohibited wildlife and removes snow and clouded leopards (and hybrids) from the prohibited list.
Official title: To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to adjust provisions relating to captive wildlife offenses.
Introduced January 20, 2026 by Paul Gosar · Last progress January 20, 2026
Changes to federal wildlife possession law let certain qualified holders register individual animals that otherwise would be prohibited, add a process to cancel registrations, and explicitly remove snow leopard and clouded leopard (and their hybrids) from the list of "prohibited wildlife species." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will administer new registration, export/import, and administrative procedures and will enforce conditions on registered animals (no breeding, selling, public direct contact, or exhibition).