Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015”.
Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit the taking of any endangered species or threatened species of fish or wildlife in the United States as a trophy and the importation of any such trophy into the United States, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Prohibition of taking or importing any endangered or threatened species as a trophy
Prohibition of taking or importing any trophy— Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(h) Trophies—It is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States—
“(1) to take as a trophy within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4; or
“(2) to import into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4.”
Prohibition of permits for trophies— Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)) is amended—
in paragraph (1), by striking “The Secretary may permit” and inserting “Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the Secretary may permit”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(3)
“(A) The Secretary may not permit—
“(i) taking as a trophy any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4; or
“(ii) importing into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 and taken after the date of the enactment of the Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015.
“(B) Any person seeking to import such a trophy shall submit to the customs officer concerned at the time of entry of the trophy such documentation as the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall by regulation require as being necessary to establish that the trophy was taken before the date of the enactment of the Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015.”
Antiques— Section 10(h)(1) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(h)(1)) is amended by striking “Sections 4(d), 9(a), and 9(c) do not apply” and inserting “Sections 4(d), 9(a), 9(c), and 9(h)(2) do not apply”.
by redesignating paragraph (21) as paragraph (22); and
by inserting after paragraph (20) the following:
“(21) The term “trophy” means any fish or wildlife taken for sport or procurement of a souvenir.”