Animal trap law to be rejected

Date: 10/11/05

A proposal for an EU law on 'humane' animal traps will be rejected by MEPs at next week's plenary meeting in Strasbourg.

The proposal aims to bring national laws into line with international agreements reached seven years ago with Russia, Canada and the US and to regulate some other types of traps, for example, drowning traps, to make them less cruel.

The proposal does not cover leg-hold traps, banned in the EU since 1991, but covers 19 species of animal, including marten, sable, badger, wolf and beaver.

MEPs, who say the directive does not take sufficient account of animal welfare, are expected to reject it in a vote next Wednesday (16 November).

Austrian Socialist MEP Karen Scheele, who has been drafting Parliament's response said the draft law was "very unsatisfactory" and "difficult to improve by means of amendments".

But some Dutch MEPs fear the law is too demanding and could hinder control of certain harmful animals, in particular the musk-rat, which damages the dykes that protect low-lying regions of the Netherlands.

Article reports that a proposal for an EU law on 'humane' animal traps was likely to be rejected by MEPs at their November plenary meeting in Strasbourg, since it was considered by some MEPs not to take sufficient account of animal welfare and by others to be an obstacle to the control of certain harmful animals.