Gary Bagnall Resigns as Chairman of the Board

Gary Bagnall Resigns as Chairman of the Board

Gary Bagnall, the founder and CEO of Zoo Med, has played an integral role in USARK for more than fourteen years and was most recently serving as USARK’s Chairman of the Board. After so much time and attention devoted to ensuring USARK could succeed, Gary has decided...
ALERT: ESA listing for two reptile species and two others

ALERT: ESA listing for two reptile species and two others

UPDATE 7/15/25: FWS is reopening the comment period on the proposed rule to list the blue tree monitor (Varanus macraei), as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted and will be fully considered in...
ALERT: ESA listing for two reptile species and two others

ESA Modernization Bills

Endangered Species Act Modernization Bills The Saving America’s Vulnerable Endangered Species Act, or SAVES Act, has been re-introduced this session in both the Senate and House. S771 and HR1558 would amend the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to prohibit the listing of...

APHIS Nonnative Herp Environmental Assessment Comment Period

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has posted the below. We will have more details soon: NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY – Florida: Wildlife Services (WS), a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal...

ALERT: Ann Arbor, Michigan Animal Sales Ban

UPDATE 6/20/23: The ordinance passed. Only two people spoke in opposition (USARK and one local pet owner) while several spoke in support including four people from a single animal rights group. One Council member mentioned that almost every local person who sent...

ALERT: Austin, TX Animal Program Ban

UPDATE 7/11/23: The Austin Animal Advisory Commission has made several changes to the proposal, including an exemption for an “owner of a household pet who derives less than the majority of their income from exhibiting an animal.” The Commission (not the...