Sponsors (24)
The bill creates and funds a centralized Wildlife Confiscations Network to speed placements and improve care for seized wildlife—reducing burdens on ports and improving welfare—but shifts costs and control toward credentialed external facilities and a central committee, risking administrative burdens on small organizations, placement delays, uneven regional capacity, and modest new federal spending.
Federal and local wildlife law enforcement and port officials gain a single, vetted contact and centralized placement process, reducing administrative burden and speeding transfers of seized animals.
Seized endangered and CITES-listed animals are more likely to receive appropriate long-term care through formally recognized, credentialed zoos, sanctuaries, aquaria, NGOs, and universities and standardized protocols, improving animal welfare and quarantine compliance nationwide.
Relieving ports and officers of long-term care duties can free enforcement resources to focus more on investigating and disrupting wildlife trafficking and transnational criminal networks.
Smaller nonprofits, sanctuaries, zoos, and university programs may face new administrative, compliance, and care-cost burdens to qualify or host seized animals, which could limit participation and strain local capacity.
Centralizing placement authority in a Committee and Network risks creating review bottlenecks, slow placements, and reduced ability to use ad hoc local options, especially if membership turnover or slow processes occur.
Regional capacity will be uneven after expansion, so some ports and border communities—particularly high-volume locations—may remain strained during seizure surges.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a voluntary national Network to place and care for seized CITES/ESA-listed animals and authorizes $5M per year for FY2026–2030.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish a Wildlife Confiscations Network, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Andrew R. Garbarino · Last progress May 21, 2025
Creates a voluntary, cooperative national Wildlife Confiscations Network to help federal wildlife law enforcement place, care for, quarantine, and track seized CITES-listed or ESA-listed threatened and endangered animals. The Network will be run by the Department of the Interior (through the US Fish and Wildlife Service) in partnership with a professional accrediting zoological association, operate a membership review Committee, maintain a database of qualified care facilities, and develop response protocols. Authorizes $5,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026–2030 to implement and operate the Network and related activities, and defines eligibility and application requirements for qualified animal care facilities (zoos, aquaria, sanctuaries, rescue/rehab organizations, NGOs, and universities).