bash declare -x strangeness

[moongloom]

I have noticed a strange issue with a bash script I am writing. If I do a declare -x in a loop inside of a function the variable is cleared the first time through the loop. Each subsequent iteration it works as expected. If run the same loop outside of a function it works fine. Also if I use export instead of declare -x it works. Anyone know why this is? I am probably just not understanding something about variable scoping. I am doing the declare so I can export the variable to a perl one liner inside the loop
for ex:

declare -x blah
perl -wle 'print "$ENV{blah}"

Here is a test script showing the problem

#!/bin/bash

function animals { 
    for animal in cat dog chicken rabbit; do
        echo "---------------------"
        echo "Before export = $animal"
        declare -x animal
        echo "After export = $animal" 
        echo "---------------------"
    done 
}

animals

---------------------
Before export = cat
After export = 
---------------------
---------------------
Before export = dog
After export = dog
---------------------
---------------------
Before export = chicken
After export = chicken
---------------------
---------------------
Before export = rabbit
After export = rabbit
---------------------

[moongloom]

Here is a simpler example without the loop showing the same issue:

function animals { 
        echo "Inside Function"
        animal=cat
        echo "---------------------"
        echo "Before export = $animal"
        declare -x animal
        echo "After export = $animal" 
        echo "---------------------"
}
animals

echo "Outside Function"
animal=zebra
echo "---------------------"
echo "Before export = $animal"
declare -x animal
echo "After export = $animal" 
echo "---------------------"

Results

Inside Function
---------------------
Before export = cat
After export = 
---------------------
Outside Function
---------------------
Before export = zebra
After export = zebra
---------------------

[scm]

I suspect that the animal variable declared in the outer loop is being "hidden" by the declaration inside the loop. Outside the loop the same variable will be used. It's a scoping issue.

Have you tried the behaviour in the Korn shell to see if it's the same?

[moongloom]

yeah the behavior is the same in the korn shell using typeset -x