USDA imposes Animal Welfare Act on all non-U.S. airlines

USDA imposes Animal Welfare Act on all non-U.S. airlines    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin Wednesday imposing Animal Welfare Act regulations and standards on all arriving non-U.S. air carriers.
   The agency has applied the regulations only to American airlines.
   The Animal Welfare Act provides standards for the humane handling, care, treatment and transportation for animals.
   Some animal shippers are concerned about the possible regulatory overlap between USDA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which also has responsibility under the Lacey Act to ensure that humane and healthful shipping standards are maintained for animals in transit.
   USDA acknowledged there might be some “jurisdictional overlap” with Fish and Wildlife in regard to regulating the air transport of warm-blooded animals, including traditional zoo animals.
   “Such overlap will be limited, however, to the air transport of warm-blooded wildlife into the United States,” USDA said. “While (USDA’s) Animal Care regulates warm-blooded animals, including dogs and cats and other domesticated animals, under the AWA (Animal Welfare Act), the USFWS regulates both warm-blooded animals and non-warm-blooded wildlife.”