This bill expands the Animal Welfare Act to include cold-blooded animals—such as reptiles, amphibians, fish, and cephalopods—under federal animal protection requirements for the first time. Currently, the Animal Welfare Act only covers warm-blooded animals, leaving cold-blooded species used in research, testing, and exhibitions without these protections. The legislation amends the definition of "animal" in the law to explicitly include cold-blooded species when they are used for research, testing, experimentation, exhibition, or kept as pets. The bill maintains existing exemptions for certain animals bred for research and farmed animals used for food or production purposes. The legislation does not specify new funding or implementation timelines but would require the Department of Agriculture to enforce existing Animal Welfare Act standards to this newly covered category of animals.
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