H.R. 1477 — Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act of 2025.”

This section states congressional findings that animal cruelty is linked to violence against humans, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse, homicide, gang activity, drug trafficking, and other crimes; that animal fighting may spread diseases between animals and people; that the Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks animal cruelty crimes; and that the Department of Justice lacks a dedicated animal crimes enforcement unit, resulting in delays and underprosecution of animal crimes. It further finds that dedicated Department of Justice staff and resources would improve enforcement of animal cruelty laws by providing specialized knowledge, focus, and more efficient handling of these offenses.

This section establishes an Animal Cruelty Crimes Section within the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division to enforce Federal animal cruelty laws under the Department’s jurisdiction. It directs the new section to coordinate with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies as appropriate. It also requires the section to submit to Congress, 1 year after enactment and annually thereafter, a report covering the previous year’s animal cruelty enforcement activity, including the number of charges filed, disaggregated by the law allegedly violated, the State where the violation allegedly occurred, and the number of convictions, as well as the number of investigations in which charges were not filed.