7 U.S.C. § 8356 — Depredation permits for black vultures and common ravens; black vulture livestock protection program

(a) Depredation permits for black vultures and common ravens. (1) The Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service — called "the Secretary" in this section — may issue depredation permits letting livestock producers take black vultures or common ravens that federal law would otherwise protect, in order to stop those birds from taking livestock during calving or lambing season. (2) The Secretary may issue these permits only to livestock producers in states or regions where livestock producers are, or were in the previous year, affected by black vultures or common ravens, as the Secretary determines. (3) As a condition of the permit, the holder must report to the appropriate enforcement agencies every taking of black vultures or common ravens done under the permit. (b) Black vulture livestock protection program. (1) Through fiscal year 2030, the Secretary, working with states, must carry out a program letting one public entity or Farm Bureau organization per state hold a statewide depredation permit to protect commercial agricultural livestock from black vulture predation. (2) Each public entity or Farm Bureau organization holding a permit under the program: (A) must (i) show it has enough experience and capacity to provide government-regulated services to the public, as the Secretary determines; (ii) submit a complete depredation permit application, as the Secretary determines, for review and approval under the Fish and Wildlife Service's procedures; (iii) be responsible for following, and making sure sub-permit holders follow, all permit conditions; and (iv) be responsible for collecting, managing, and reporting the information the permit requires; and (B) may sub-permit livestock producers to take black vultures for livestock protection. (3) The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture acting through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator, must study whether the number of black vultures sub-permittees may take can be increased, while staying within a biologically sustainable take level for the population. (4) Within one year of December 23, 2024, the Secretary, in that same consultation, must report to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, on the program's status, including the study's results.