Wildlife trade, endangered-species listing, habitat networks, a live U.S. corridor bill, and one clearly labeled idea about intentional companion-animal cruelty. Habitat and species law first; the companion-animal card is an idea, not a statute.
Texts that are in force: a statute, regulation, directive, or treaty that already binds someone.
Signed 3 March 1973, Washington, D.C.; entered into force 1 July 1975
The global wildlife-trade convention. It regulates listed species in trade. It is not a habitat law.
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16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.
The core U.S. statute for listed species and their critical habitat: listing, take bans, and federal-agency duties.
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Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora
The legal spine of Natura 2000 on land and at sea, together with the Birds Directive.
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Act No. 47 of 2013, now Cap. 376; assented 24 December 2013, commenced 10 January 2014
The current Kenyan wildlife statute: public ownership of wildlife, parks and conservancies, and a penalty scheme for killing and trafficking.
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Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals; done at Bonn 23 June 1979; entered into force 1 November 1983
The UN-backed treaty for animals that cross borders on a cycle. Appendix I species get strict protection duties; Appendix II species get range-state Agreements. It is not CITES (trade lists) and not a single-country habitat statute.
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Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (codified; originally Directive 79/409/EEC, 1979)
The first EU nature directive. It protects all naturally occurring wild birds in the Union and drives Special Protection Areas inside Natura 2000: the bird half of the pair with the Habitats Directive.
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Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (ETS No. 104); opened for signature Bern, 19 September 1979; entered into force 1 June 1982
The Council of Europe’s wildlife and habitats treaty. Strictly protected species and habitats lists, plus a Standing Committee: pan-European, not the same instrument as the EU Birds or Habitats Directives (though EU law draws on the same conservation agenda).
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Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, 16 U.S.C. § 1361 et seq. (as amended)
The U.S. statute that generally bans the take of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. persons: whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions under NOAA; manatees, sea otters, walrus, polar bears under FWS. Broader than ESA listing alone.
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Lacey Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378 (origins 1900; major wildlife-trade amendments including 1981)
The U.S. enforcement statute that makes it a federal crime to trade wildlife, fish, or plants taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of U.S., state, or foreign law: a force-multiplier beside CITES permits, not a second CITES list.
Read the article →Bills in a legislature or a formal intergovernmental negotiation. Not law yet. A first reading or an INC round is not an enactment.
Useful proposed laws that are not in force. Some were formally filed and then withdrawn or left to die. They must not be read as enacted.
e.g. H.R. 2773, 117th Congress (passed House 14 June 2022, 231-190; died in the Senate); later reintroductions including S.1149, 118th Congress
A recurring funding proposal for state and Tribal species of greatest conservation need. The House once passed it. It has never become law.
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Catalog idea. Nearest real instruments: 18 U.S.C. § 48 (PACT Act); Portugal Lei n.º 8/2017; German BGB § 90a; Ecuador Constitutional Court Sentencia 253-20-JH/22
A proposed rule: deliberate beating, torture, or sadistic harm to a companion dog or cat would be judged on the same criminal scale as the matching human crime. Accidents and roadkill are out of scope. No country has enacted that. This card is an idea.
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