(Brussels, Belgium – 5 May 2009) –The European Parliament today voted 550 to 49 in favour of a ban on the trade of all seal products within the EU. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) applauded the decision as a significant victory in IFAW’s 40 year campaign to end Canada’s commercial seal hunt. The ban will forbid the sale of seal products for profit within the EU with an exception for Inuit and other indigenous peoples.
(Ottawa, Canada – 8 April 2009) -As Canada’s commercial seal hunt is set to re-open in the Gulf of St. Lawrence today with another 64,000 pups scheduled for slaughter, IFAW welcomes the news that many sealers may not participate in this year’s hunt due to the lack of markets for seal fur.
(Charlottetown, PEI, Canada – 25 March 2008) – Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) will close the first zone of the seal hunt today after the earliest group of sealers killed 17,200 harp seals thus far. DFO is set to re-open the hunt in another area of the Gulf this Friday.
(Charlottetown, Canada – 23 March 2009) –A team of observers with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org) is ready to document the commercial seal hunt as it opens today in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.
