85%
of the world’s endangered vertebrates are not adequately covered by the world’s protected areas
Policy
If you want to change the game, start with the rules. And with animal welfare, that means the laws. Our first campaign effectively ended the commercial slaughter of whitecoat seal pups. Now we’re taking the fight to decision-makers around the world.
85%
of the world’s endangered vertebrates are not adequately covered by the world’s protected areas
1%
or less of European companies’ administrative burden is spent on environmental compliance
67
countries still lack a basic legal framework for protecting animals
Animal welfare is about natural freedoms: the freedom to live and reproduce in a healthy environment, the freedom from hunger, the freedom from discomfort, disease, and distress.
Tell the Truth
When our laws have loopholes and our lawmakers look the other way, those freedoms disappear.
Few lobbyists are trained biologists. Even fewer have spent time inside the thoracic cavity of a dead right whale. Ours have. We bring half-a-century of firsthand experience to our advocacy campaigns, ensuring that policies, legislation, and international treaties recognize real problems and real solutions. Around the world, we’re giving people big ideas to rally around, and law enforcement the necessary tools to protect animals.
In a world of competing special interests, we tell the truth about animal welfare and conservation. That means educating people about the deafening impact of noise pollution from seismic oil exploration on whales, or informing tourists about wildlife products to avoid when shopping for souvenirs. We share guidelines for responsible pet ownership and how to help animals in a natural disaster. In places where people and animals share the land, we teach people how to promote healthy, conflict-free interactions with wildlife.
Our campaigns target governments and politicians, students and teachers, farmers and business owners, citizens and law enforcement. Because the hard truth is that all people share the responsibility for animal welfare.
Influence Influencers
Our first fourteen years of activism and advocacy led to the world’s first ban on seal products. When the Canadian government revived the hunt 15 years later, we worked to help expand the ban, bringing the commercial sealing industry to its knees once again. In the UK, our work led to the passage of the Hunting Act 2004, which outlaws the use of dogs to hunt wild mammals. (Since passage, hundreds of cases have been successfully prosecuted under the Act.) In Russia, we successfully lobbied to ban the winter den hunt that orphans countless brown bears every year. And, in recent years, as elephant populations have been devastated by a new wave of poaching, we have worked with the governments of the United States, China and the UK to shut down ivory markets.
Now we’re lobbying the United States Congress to pass a bill that replaces hazardous fishing gear with ropeless traps that ensure marine mammals’ safety. And in Europe, we’re working with lawmakers to close remaining legal ivory markets.
Build Consensus
To make permanent changes in our laws and lifestyles, we need partners with influence. That’s why we participate in meetings of international treaties and agreements, including the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and most recently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The differences we’re making on the ground start at the top. In the IWC, for instance, when votes in support of whaling were being “bought” with overseas development aid and cash in brown envelopes, we helped blow the whistle. The result: in 2011, the IWC banned cash payments for membership fees and adopted critical transparency measures.
protection for wildlife & habitats is preserved in global agreements
See projectifaw was first founded to end the seal hunt
See projectsometimes what’s most effective is also most humane
See projectthere are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild
See projectthe reappearance of wolves means relearning how to coexist
See projectPress releases
Guidelines to maximise climate action by integrating wildlife conservation into national climate plans
read moreBlog
Facts about big cats
Read morePress releases
European Union puts wolves and biodiversity at risk
Read morePress releases
Whale Sanctuary harpooned, Japan rebuked at Whaling Commission meeting
Read moreStay in the know. Be ready to act.
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