Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds that— zoonotic diseases are a significant threat to human populations, livestock, domestic animals, and wildlife, which is evidenced by the fact that— more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in human populations originated in animals; and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in human populations originate from animals; zoonotic diseases are capable of transmitting between wildlife, livestock, domestic animals, and human populations; the majority of recent emerging infectious diseases have originated in wildlife; zoonotic disease spillover events are occurring more frequently; many wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza, are highly transmissible and have spilled over to livestock and domestic animals; chronic wasting disease is transmissible between wild and captive deer and elk; bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis spilled over from cattle to wildlife; outbreaks of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases have significant adverse effects on the United States economy, with the 2022 avian flu outbreak resulting in economic costs of $3,000,000,000; outbreaks of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases pose a significant public health threat and may lead to a public health emergency; the Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention play distinct but complementary roles in the prevention, detection, control, and response to wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases;

State fish and wildlife agencies exercise primary statutory authority over the management of fish and wildlife as public trust resources within their borders; the Department of Agriculture is primarily responsible for safeguarding the health of livestock, developing and conducting monitoring and surveillance for livestock diseases, and preventing the spread of diseases that pose a threat to the agricultural industry; the Department of the Interior has a responsibility to develop monitoring and surveillance techniques for highly pathogenic avian influenza and other emerging wildlife diseases, including diseases with zoonotic potential; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the leading public health agency responsible for— monitoring and responding to human health threats posed by wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases; and conducting surveillance and research and providing guidance to prevent and control the spread of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases to and among humans; increased coordination and collaboration between Federal, State, and Tribal agencies with respect to wildlife disease and zoonotic disease efforts is necessary to adequately monitor and respond to ongoing and potential wildlife disease and zoonotic disease outbreaks; establishing a Agriculture-Wildlife Disease Coordinator as an intermediary between the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would facilitate communication, information sharing, and coordinated efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to wildlife disease and zoonotic disease outbreaks; and the coordinated efforts described in paragraph

(16)are essential to protect public health, wildlife populations, and agricultural interests from the impacts of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases.