Cats' Nine Lives
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Department of Law Fall Term 2021 Master’s Thesis in Animal Law 30 ECTS Cats’ nine lives European Union legislation on the trade of endangered animals and its effects on animal welfare Author: Ida Aho Supervisor: Doctor Yaffa Epstein Abstract The issues raised in this thesis concern the adverse effects of EU's wildlife trade regulations, mainly the unequal treatment of captive and wild-born endangered animals. The nature of these regulations is analyzed from an animal law perspective. The purpose of the analysis is to determine whether the regulations are anthropocentric and, if so, what issues arise from it. Previous research has studied the legal personhood of animals in relation to animal welfare. This thesis continues that discussion by examining legal animal rights as a potential solution to the issues of wildlife trade. The analysis is pragmatic and employs a non-formalistic view of law. Consequentially, it uses a doctrinal and legal philosophical approach, meaning that sources outside of law are integral to the discussion. The results of the analysis show that EU’s wildlife trade regulations are anthropocentric and that this has led to severe issues regarding the welfare of endangered animals. In addition, the practical enforcement of the regulations has proven defective. Legal rights for animals seem to provide a viable solution to these issues, yet their practical implementation is complicated. The reasons for this are primarily financial and opinion-based. Therefore, a step-by-step approach, starting with limited fundamental rights and resulting in full legal personhood for animals, is recommended for this approach to be successful. Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 THE PURPOSE OF THE ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 LIMITATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 APPROACH AND MATERIALS ..................................................................................................................... 4 1.3.1 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.3.2 Materials ................................................................................................................................... 5 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 6 3 EU LAW AND ENDANGERED ANIMALS .............................................................................................. 8 3.1 ARTICLE 13 TFEU .................................................................................................................................. 9 3.1.1 The meaning of welfare and sentience ................................................................................... 10 3.1.2 The hierarchical position of article 13 ..................................................................................... 11 3.1.3 The implications of Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België (Case C 336/19) ................... 13 3.2 CITES AND THE EU REGULATIONS ........................................................................................................... 14 3.2.1 Differences in the treatment of captive and wild individuals .................................................. 16 3.2.2 Why do the differences exist? ................................................................................................. 17 3.3 THE WELFARE PARADIGM AND LEGAL LANGUAGE ........................................................................................ 18 3.3.1 Use of the word specimen ....................................................................................................... 19 3.3.2 Minimizing the risk for injury, damage to health or cruel treatment ...................................... 20 3.3.3 An adequate level of protection? ............................................................................................ 21 3.4 SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................... 24 4 ANTHROPOCENTRISM IN THE EU REGULATIONS ............................................................................. 25 4.1 THE NATURE OF TRADE LAW ................................................................................................................... 26 5 PROBLEMATIC TRADE ..................................................................................................................... 27 5.1 THE STATUS OF EU’S BIG CATS ................................................................................................................ 27 5.1.1 The keeping of live tigers ......................................................................................................... 28 5.1.2 Defective registration and illegal trade ................................................................................... 31 5.1.3 The case of the ten tigers ........................................................................................................ 32 6 FINDING A NEW APPROACH ............................................................................................................ 35 6.1 CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMAL COGNITION ........................................................................................... 35 6.1.1 Language, intellect and how to test it ..................................................................................... 36 6.1.2 The animal mind – beyond pain and suffering ........................................................................ 39 6.2 LEGAL PERSONHOOD FOR ANIMALS, YES, OR NO? ....................................................................................... 41 6.2.1 Defining rights ......................................................................................................................... 42 6.2.2 Legal personhood .................................................................................................................... 43 6.2.3 Do animals possess legal rights? ............................................................................................. 45 6.2.4 Animal rights in existing European legislation ........................................................................ 46 6.2.5 Common concerns about animals’ legal personhood .............................................................. 49 6.3 THE ANIMAL RIGHTS APPROACH AS A REALISTIC SOLUTION ............................................................................ 52 6.3.1 The removal of animal-related products ................................................................................. 52 6.3.2 A step-by-step model for better protection ............................................................................. 54 7 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 56 7.1 THE NATURE OF THE REGULATIONS .......................................................................................................... 57 7.2 THE EFFECTS OF ANTHROPOCENTRISM ...................................................................................................... 57 7.3 IS THERE A VIABLE SOLUTION? ................................................................................................................. 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 59 CASE LAW ................................................................................................................................................. 59 UNION LEGISLATION ................................................................................................................................... 59 MEMBER STATE LEGISLATION ....................................................................................................................... 59 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 60 LITERATURE .............................................................................................................................................. 60 MATERIALS FROM INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS .......................................................................................... 62 WEBSITES ................................................................................................................................................. 62 OTHER MATERIALS ..................................................................................................................................... 63 1 Introduction The trade of captive-born endangered animals and especially big cats is a centuries-old phenomenon that has gained new attention in recent years. In the European Union (EU), the releases of two NGO reports in 2019 and 2020 revealed severe deficiencies in the current legislative systems meant to control this trade.1 Consequentially, the problematic treatment of EU’s endangered animals became a topic of discussion that could no longer be ignored. The long history of wildlife trade