NNSL / Canadian Press

NNSL (June 2/97) - Northern trappers are welcoming a tentative agreement between Canada and the European Union on standards for trapping wild animals, but pressure from animal rights groups could still scuttle the deal.

"We know we're close to getting the agreement," he said last Thursday. "But this just means we'll have to work harder over the next few weeks," said Gary Bohnet, president of the Metis Nation of the NWT.

The agreement could clear the way for Canadian furriers to continue exporting furs to European nations, something that's been threatened since the early 1980s when animal rights groups launched a boycott of sealskins and other furs.

An agreement laying out standards by which all trapping will be judged is expected as early as this month, the Foreign Affairs Department said last Monday.

It would set standards on restraining traps, underwater traps and controversial leg-hold traps, which would be allowed to continue in Canada for three more years.

Canada expects European Union countries to approve the agreement in June.

On June 19, EU environment ministers will be voting on the agreement. In an effort to influence the EU, European animal rights groups undertook a $1-million dollar ad campaign earlier this week in Europe.

Although the tentative agreement is a major step towards resolving a long-standing source of ill will between aboriginal Canadians and Europeans, the road to the deal has been a long one. EU environment ministers often find themselves out of step with the rest of the European Parliament and political setbacks are common.

The EU banned fur taken in leg-hold traps six years ago.

The fur industry generates about $600 million a year in Canada and employs about 100,000 Canadians, including 40,000 aboriginals.

(With files from Alison Blackduck.)