Zoo campaigners pledge to keep up fight for standards

Date: 08/02/1996

ANIMAL welfare lobbies have reacted angrily to confirmation that the European Commission has ignored their calls for a binding directive on zoo standards and this week pledged to continue their battle.

As EU environment ministers prepare to discuss the Commission's draft 'recommendation' on standards in zoos at their meeting next month, welfare groups vowed to fight on for legally-enforceable EU rules.

But officials are confident that an agreement on the proposal can be reached by June.

They believe that despite the reservations expressed by some countries, most will accept the Commission's overall approach.

They say Austria was alone among the EU's 15 member states in calling for the core elements of the recommendation to be drawn together into a directive when the proposal was discussed in a recent Council of Ministers working group.

But other member states, including Germany and the Netherlands, said the proposal contained far more detail than was strictly necessary for a recommendation and are expected to call for changes to the wording before it is agreed.

The UK government, which played an influential role in the Commission's decision to opt for a recommendation rather than a directive, is likely to come under pressure for tougher action from its vociferous animal welfare lobby. But a British official insisted this week: “This proposal is both subsidiarity-friendly and animal welfare-friendly.”

The UK already has domestic legislation on zoos which is among the strictest in the Union, and officials argue that the Commission's proposal would make little practical difference to the British domestic situation.

The European Parliament, one of the most vocal campaigners for tough zoo standards, has not yet formally received details of the proposed recommendation from the Commission.

However, Parliament officials appear to have accepted already that there is little they can do to force the Commission to revert to its original plan for a binding directive, which was one of a series of proposed measures dropped in the name of subsidiarity, on the grounds that this was an area which should be left under the control of national governments.

MEPs will be permitted just one reading of the proposal before ministers decide whether or not to take it on board.

But Edward Seymour-Rouse, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's EU office, has pledged to fight on.

“IFAW and its European allies are not in the business of capitulation. We shall fight again for that for which the Parliament so valiantly and effectively fought. We shall never cease to press for a directive, for this is the will of a vast number of electors in the EU,” he said.

Experts are due to look at the proposal once more before it is considered by ministers for the first time on 4 March.

The proposal - based largely on the standards established by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria - includes a detailed framework covering all areas of zoo policy, from strict guidelines for animal enclosures to safety measures for staff and the public and the conservation and educational opportunities offered by zoos.

The Commission is calling on member states to take its ideas on board within two years of the recommendation's adoption by ministers, and to maintain a strict licensing scheme, under which all licences should be reviewed at least every five years.

The Commission's decision to opt for a non-binding scheme followed the drive for decentralisation, which was particularly strong during the last British presidency.

It also came despite Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard's preference for binding legislation.

But some member states are still said to be nervous about the potential scope of the proposal.

“It may be a proposal for a recommendation, but it sounds like a directive. It's not just what you write on the front page that matters, because the European Court could still interpret these as binding rules,” said one European diplomat.