CRS Report – Federal Statutes Protecting Domesticated and Captive Animals, February 5, 2021 – “A number of federal laws aim to protect the health, safety, and well-being of animals under human control. These laws extend to pets, domesticated livestock, service animals, test subjects, and wild animals kept for exhibition, scientific, or educational purposes, among others. Some of them prohibit specific harmful acts, others prescribe standards for certain types of activities, and others require owners to have permits and meet certain criteria to possess various types of animals. This report provides brief summaries of federal laws that aim to protect domesticated and captive animals. The laws, or components thereof, that address animals owned by humans represent a subset of the federal laws that aim to protect and conserve animals. A principal statute governing the humane treatment of animals is the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Enacted in 1966, the AWA “is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport,and dealers,” according to the Department of Agriculture. The AWA prescribes the minimum standards of care for certain animals that are used for research, sold or transported commercially, or exhibited to the public. Other statutes and policies refer to the AWA as the “minimum acceptable standard” for animal care and use. The laws summarized in this report are categorized by topic. Due to its expansiveness and central role in animal protection law, the AWA is discussed first and in greater detail than the other laws. Laws that exclusively address the protection or conservation of animals in the wild were omitted from this report. To the extent a law applies to both animals in the wild and animals in captivity, such as the Endangered Species Act or the Lacey Act, the summary provided in this report focuses on the provisions that apply specifically to animals in captivity, such as permitting or import requirements. This report also does not include laws that only incidentally address animal protection or that address but do not aim to protect animals…”