On May 25, 1900, the country’s first nationwide invasive species law, known as the Lacey Act, took effect and has been in effect in one form or another for 125 years. The law’s purpose was to regulate the introduction of American or foreign wildlife species in localities where they have not previously existed. This part of the law was the injurious wildlife provision, which is now 18 USC 42 and is implemented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Lacey Act? The law that started injurious wildlife was under the Lacey Act of 1900, but that is not the law that injurious wildlife is under now. The current law is 18 U.S.C. 42—not a very catchy or memorable name! Therefore, many people just keep calling it the Lacey Act. To add to the confusion, another law that started with the 1900 Lacey Act is now 16 U.S.C. 3371-3378, also not a catchy name, so people just keep calling that one the Lacey Act, too. The purpose of that law was to prohibit the transportation by interstate commerce of game killed in violation of local laws, which is currently the very comprehensive wildlife and plant trafficking law 16 USC 3371-3378 and is enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And John Lacey was responsible for several other laws that bore his name.
The current injurious statute has proven successful in preventing the establishment of imported wildlife species if they are listed as injurious before they establish. The Service has been very preemptive, with 94% of the species listed before establishment (Jewell and Fuller 2021), and more than 99% of those have not established after listing.
However, the law has many gaps, and it needs modernizing to meet the demands of today’s live animal import industry and globalization. I served as Injurious Wildlife Listing Coordinator from 2010 to 2024, the longest serving coordinator for the Service. In my retirement, I want to provide easily understandable and accurate information on this subject. I also want to impress upon decision-makers that we cannot wait any longer to stop the invasions by harmful wildlife species and that I can help with recommendations for a new federal law to preempt invasions of harmful wildlife species.