Agriculture Secretary to Repay Student Loans of Veterinarians in Shortage Areas

On 6 December, President Bush signed HR 1367, the 'National Veterinary Medical Service Act'. The Act authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture “to conduct a loan repayment program regarding the provision of veterinary services in shortage situations, and for other purposes1.” The Act establishes a program to pay the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans of veterinarians who provide veterinary services in 'veterinarian shortage situations', or provide service to the federal government in emergency situations. The Secretary of Agriculture is to develop regulations for the amounts and repayment schedules.

According to the Act, the Secretary may consider the following to determine veterinarian shortage situations:

  • “Urban or rural areas that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians.

  • “Areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians, such as public health, epidemiology, and food safety.

  • “Areas of veterinary need in the Federal Government.

  • “(4) Other factors that the Secretary considers to be relevant1.”

Qualifying loans include those made to cover tuition, books and laboratory expenses, and living expenses for individuals receiving a DVM or equivalent degree from an accredited college of veterinary medicine. Veterinarians will receive salaries commensurate with their duties, travel and appropriate per diem reimbursements, and will not be required to serve more than 60 working days for each year of service.

Amended Law Bans Interstate Commerce of Certain Wild Cats

On 19 December 2003, President Bush signed into law the 'Captive Wildlife Safety Act' to ban the interstate commerce of certain species of wild cats bound for the exotic pet trade2. The Act, which amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to further the conservation of certain wildlife species, prohibits interstate commerce of any lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar species, or any hybrid of such a species.

This ban does not apply to importation, exportation, transportation, sale, receipt, acquisition, or purchase of an animal of a prohibited wildlife species, by a person that: “(A) is licensed and inspected by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service with respect to that species; (B) is a State college, university, or agency, State-licensed wildlife rehabilitator, or State- licensed veterinarian; (C) is an accredited wildlife sanctuary that cares for prohibited wildlife species and—(i) is a corporation that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 1986 and described in sections 501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code; (ii) does not commercially trade [these wild cat species], including offspring, parts, and byproducts of such animals; (iii) does not propagate animals; and (iv) does not allow direct contact between the public and animals; or (D) has custody of the animal solely for the purpose of expeditiously transporting the animal to a person described in this paragraph with respect to the species2.”