S. 708 — Introduced in Senate

II 116th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 708 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 7, 2019Mr. Merkley (for himself and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Animal Welfare Act to limit experimentation on cats. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Kittens In Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act of 2019 or the KITTEN Act of 2019. 2. Limitation on experimentation on cats Section 14 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2144) is amended— (1) in the first sentence, by striking Any department and inserting the following: (a) In general Any department ; (2) in subsection (a) (as so designated), in the second sentence, by striking Any department and inserting the following: (b) Exhibiting animals Any department ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (c) Department of Agriculture experimentation on cats Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall not purchase, breed, transport, house, feed, maintain, dispose of, or conduct an experiment on a cat as part of any study or research that would subject that cat to a procedure that may cause pain or stress, including pain or stress that may be mitigated by anesthetics, analgesics, or tranquilizer drugs, unless the pain or stress is a result of a physical exam or training program. .