I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2462
To authorize livestock producers and their employees to take black vultures
in order to prevent death, injury, or destruction to livestock, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH27, 2025
Mr. R
OSE(for himself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. BOST, Mr. MESSMER,
Mr. B
ARR, Mr. HERNof Oklahoma, Mr. SMITHof Missouri, Mr. PERRY,
Mrs. B
ICE, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. GOODEN, Mr. ALFORD, Mr. GRAVES, and
Mr. R
ULLI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To authorize livestock producers and their employees to take
black vultures in order to prevent death, injury, or de-
struction to livestock, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black Vulture Relief 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS AND 1
THEIR EMPLOYEES TO TAKE CERTAIN BLACK 2
VULTURES. 3
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) B
LACK VULTURE.—The term ‘‘black vul-5
ture’’ means a bird of the species Coragyps atratus. 6
(2) C
OVERED PERSON .—The term ‘‘covered 7
person’’ means— 8
(A) a livestock producer; or 9
(B) an employee of a livestock producer 10
when the employee is actively engaged in live-11
stock production. 12
(3) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 13
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 14
Service. 15
(4) L
IVESTOCK.—The term ‘‘livestock’’ has the 16
meaning given the term in section 602 of the Emer-17
gency Livestock Feed Assistance Act of 1988 (7 18
U.S.C. 1471). 19
(5) L
IVESTOCK PRODUCER .—The term ‘‘live-20
stock producer’’ has the meaning given the term in 21
section 602 of the Emergency Livestock Feed As-22
sistance Act of 1988 (7 U.S.C. 1471). 23
(6) T
AKE.—The term ‘‘take’’ means— 24
(A) to capture, kill, or disperse a black vul-25
ture; or 26
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(B) to transport a black vulture carcass. 1
(b) A
UTHORIZATION.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 3
notwithstanding the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 4
U.S.C. 703 et seq.), a covered person may— 5
(A) take or attempt to take a black vulture 6
that is causing, or that the covered person has 7
a reasonable belief will cause, death, injury, or 8
destruction to livestock; or 9
(B) in the course of taking or attempting 10
to take a black vulture described in subpara-11
graph (A), cause injury to the black vulture. 12
(2) P
ROHIBITION.—A covered person may not 13
take or attempt to take a black vulture through the 14
use of poison. 15
(c) R
EPORTS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than January 31 17
of each year, a covered person that takes a black 18
vulture in accordance with subsection (b) in the pre-19
ceding 12-month period shall complete and submit 20
to the appropriate United States Fish and Wildlife 21
Service Regional Office (as determined by the geo-22
graphic jurisdictions described in section 2.2 of title 23
50, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor reg-24
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ulation)) an annual report using the form developed 1
by the Director under subsection (d). 2
(2) C
LARIFICATION.—A covered person shall 3
not be required to submit a report under paragraph 4
(1) until after the date on which the Director devel-5
ops and makes available the reporting form under 6
subsection (d). 7
(d) R
EPORTINGFORMS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 9
not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 10
of this Act, the Director shall develop and make 11
available on the website of the United States Fish 12
and Wildlife Service a reporting form the Director 13
determines appropriate for the purposes of accepting 14
reports under subsection (c). 15
(2) F
ORMAT.—The form developed and made 16
available under paragraph (1) may not be more on-17
erous to complete than similar forms required for 18
permitted take under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act 19
(16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) as of the date of enactment 20
of this Act. 21
Æ
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