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36 Animal Welfare Inst. Q. 1 (1987-1988)

handle is hein.animal/awiqu0036 and id is 1 raw text is: THE ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE QUARTERLY P.O. BOX 3650 WASHINGTON, DC 20007 SPRING/SUMMER 1987 VOL. 36, NOS. 18c2 Will Canada jettison the steel jaw trap? It is the view of the department that the government should not act as public spokes- person for fur interests. This disclaimer appears in a lengthy discussion paper pre- pared by Canada's Department of External Affairs and entitled Defense of the Fur Trade. But in the very next paragraph we read: The department seeks to find ways in which it can most effectively work with various pro- fur groups, separately or in concert, to foster their interests. A first requirement is to produce a comprehensive strategy or strate- gies and to determine the government's role therein. Over 70% of Canada'sfur exports go to just four countries, the US, Switzer- land, West Germany and Britain. Thus, legislation in these countries and the European Parliament to restrict interna- tional trade in steel jaw trapped furs is regarded as a threat. To these overseas threats could now be added a motion put down in the British House of Commons last November. Its wording is as follows: That this House, noting the 1951 Scott Henderson Commit- tee Report's description of the steel-jaw leghold trap as 'a diabolical instrument which causes an incalculable amount of suf- fering' and the ban on its use by 66 countries, calls upon Her Majesty's Govern- ment to ban the import of all furs from countries still legally permitting the use of this trap and to encourage other European Economic Community and Council of Eur- ope countries to do the same. Interestingly the Canadian discussion paper, although pre-dating the British par- liamentary initiative, pinpoints reluctance to abandon the steel-jaw trap as an indefen- sible weakness in the pro-fur position. The past 17-20 years of anti-sealing rhetoric has significantly raised public perceptions of cru- elty to animals in a Canadian context. The legacy of the anti-sealing campaign is a continued on page 18 Senegal parrots packed in an air transport case at Dakar airport, Senegal. About 10 million birds are exported annually. Senegal's wild bird trade by Dave Currey, Environmental Investigation Agency In 1985 the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) published its report on the shipment of live animals in international trade. It showed the hor- rific suffering and high mortality that the trade caused, and made dozens of recommendations to the Live Animals Board of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). However, although the 1985 meeting of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) set up a Transportation Working Group, EIA's recommendations have not been taken up. EIA authors were not invited to discuss their proposals with an IATA/CITES liaison group which welcomed members of the pet trade. The unavoidable conclusion is that IATA is more interested in protecting the trade than with the suffering and waste of life it causes. Serious issues raised by EIA have been ignored. At the Ottawa meeting of CITES inJul the issue will be raised again. To present new information and up-to-date facts, EIA has been working hard on new reports. As part of their campaign to stop the pet trade in wild- caught birds, they sent a research and documentation team to Senegal, West Africa, to investigate methods of capture and exportation in the world's biggest wild-bird exporting country. continued on page 2

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