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Cold-blooded Animal Research and Exhibition Act
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to include cold-blooded species as animals, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill expands the Animal Welfare Act's definition of "animal" to include cold-blooded species such as reptiles, amphibians, cephalopods, and fish, bringing them under the same protections currently applied to warm-blooded animals. The expansion maintains existing exemptions for certain laboratory animals (rats, mice, and birds bred for research), farmed animals used for food production or agricultural purposes, and horses not used in research. The bill ensures that all dogs are covered regardless of their intended use, whether for hunting, security, or breeding. This change would subject cold-blooded species used in research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition to the Animal Welfare Act's regulatory requirements. The bill is a mechanism to standardize animal welfare protections across species used in these contexts.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (2)
- Apr 21, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Apr 21, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 21, 2025
Ms. McCollum introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to include cold-blooded species as animals, and for other purposes.
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 “Cold-blooded Animal Research and Exhibition Act”.
SEC. 2. INCLUDING REPTILES AND FISH AS ANIMALS UNDER ANIMAL WELFARE ACT.
Section 2(g) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2132(g)) is amended to read as follows:
“(g)(1) The term ‘animal’ means any live or dead warm-blooded animal (including a dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate mammal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or bird), cold-blooded animal (including a reptile, amphibian, cephalopod, or fish), or such other animal as the Secretary may determine is being used, or is intended for use, for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet.
“(2) Such term excludes—
“(A) birds, rats of the genus Rattus, and mice of the genus Mus, bred for use in research;
“(B) horses not used for research purposes; and
“(C) other farmed animals, such as—
“(i) livestock, poultry, or fish used or intended for use as food or fiber; or
“(ii) livestock, poultry, or fish used or intended for use for improving animal nutrition, breeding, management, or production efficiency, or for improving the quality of food or fiber.
“(3) With respect to a dog, such term means all dogs, including those used for hunting, security, or breeding purposes.”. <all>
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