SB160 Summary

• Amends existing law to prohibit ownership, maintenance, sale, or trade of canidae or felidae without USDA-licensed rabies vaccines, with current owners allowed to keep animals for life if spayed/neutered and registered.

• Makes it illegal to intentionally or knowingly possess, sell, transfer, or breed large felidae (tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, cougars, cheetahs, snow leopards, clouded leopards), wolves, or bears, with exceptions for USDA-licensed Class C exhibitors, research facilities, nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries, and law enforcement.

• Allows persons who lawfully possessed these animals prior to the bill's effective date to keep them if they meet criteria including no animal abuse convictions, maintained veterinary records, liability insurance, and a disaster/escape plan.

• Establishes minimum caging requirements within one year of effective date, including 35-foot buffer zones, 8-foot perimeter fencing, specific enclosure sizes (480+ square feet for large felidae, 1,000+ for outdoor lions/tigers), den boxes, pools for certain species, and locking mechanisms.

• Classifies violations of the prohibition on new possession as a Class A misdemeanor; effective date is the first day of the third month following passage and approval by the Governor.