Canada
Africa
Australia
Deutschland
Español
European Union
France
International
Nederland
United Kingdom
United States
Россия
中国
日本語Get Involved
Donate Now
Our work depends on your generous support. Please give what you can to help the animals.
Our animal action education programme helps children learn and care about animals
The Canadian Senate has recently recommended a massive cull of grey seals, ignoring the warnings of independent marine scientists.
Please let Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans know that blaming seals is not the solution to the serious problems facing fisheries, and urge her to reject any calls for a grey seal cull.
We have prepared a template email for you to send. We encourage you to personalise this copy to make it more effective. Please ensure that you are polite at all times.
March, 2012. Two white coat harp seal pups huddle together for warmth on the snowy ice floes of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their mothers have left them, and they lie alone, helpless. Suddenly a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter touches down. The pups are put in large sacs, dragged across the ice, and loaded into the helicopter, where they are taken to the Aquarium des Îles, in nearby Quebec. For over 25 years, in September when the aquarium must close, they have released its seals and other marine creatures back into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But this year, a different fate awaits the two seal pups. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) will not allow the seal pups to be released. Instead, they are to be killed, possibly by hakapik, clubbed to death by the humans they have grown to rely on for the past 6 months.
For 25 years, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has been quietly providing the Aquarium des Iles with wild harp seal pups for public display. But when word got out about Zak and Mika’s government-imposed death sentence, animal lovers around the world were outraged and a petition was launched – gathering nearly 140,000 signatures - asking Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Keith Ashfield to spare the lives of the seal pups and allow for their safe release.
IFAW’s Seal Team sprang into action, reaching out to the organizations working to try and save Zak and Mika, the Government, and the Aquarium. In the end, YOUR voice was heard, and we were thrilled to learn that the DFO has agreed to release these seal pups back to the wild, after taking necessary steps to ensure their survival.
While this story has a happy ending, IFAW’s work is not done and we still need your help. We need to make sure the story of Zak and Mika never happens again. We must ensure that other seals and marine mammals aren’t taken from the wild and sentenced to death. We will be working to change the policy that put Zak and Mika in this situation in the first place, and urge the DFO to cease the practice of capturing marine mammals to be placed in zoos and aquaria. DFO stopped the wild capture of whales for the aquaria industry following a 1999 recommendation, and we would like to see this policy extended to all marine mammals.
Join the elephant march against ivory and help stop the slaughter
Each year millions of tourists travel to exotic locations to encounter wildlife, only to unwittingly bring home souvenirs made from endangered species.
Take the Think Twice pledge: Don't buy wildlife souvenirs.
SIGN THE PLEDGE NOW >>>>
IFAW campaigning for the Universal Declaration for Animal Welfare
It is shocking to consider that even now there is no global, intergovernmental recognition of the importance of animal welfare legislation. IFAW believes this must change, which is why we support the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW). The adoption of this formal declaration at the UN General Assembly would establish animal welfare on the global political agenda.
The declaration process was originally launched by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) in 2000. IFAW is part of the UDAW steering committee and is collaborating with other animal organisations in support of the Declaration.
The Declaration is an important way for governments to express their commitment to protecting animal welfare and is a vital springboard to changes in international and national policies and animal legislation. It would help strengthen enforcement of animal welfare measures and promote humane treatment of animals in every corner of the world.
