The international regulation of animal welfare and conservation issues through standards dealing with the trapping of wild mammals

The development of laws at both national and international level dealing with the welfare of wild animals has been slow. In 1994 the European Community agreed a Regulations banning the use of leg-hold traps but import bans were postponed following the threat of legal challenge by the US and Canada under GATT and WTO. The subsequent legal and policy history reveals important insights into the developments of international environmental standards where difficult ethical issues arise. The International Standards Organisation's attempts to devise agreed standards for humane trapping were frustrated by a consensus based approach and fundamental disagreement between interested parties. Their work was eventually confined to standards concerning trap testing methodology, thus avoiding difficult moral judgements and uncertainties. Eventually, negotiations between the European Community, Canada, the US, and the Russian Federation led in 1998 to two international agreements. These are the first such agreements to deal expressly with the welfare of wild animals, but can still be criticised as being over-concerned with the facilitation of trade.