(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 -- 3 March 2009) - The International Fund for Animal Welfare has applauded a private member’s bill introduced today by Senator Mac Harb calling for an end to Canada’s commercial seal hunt. This marks the first time a Canadian politician has introduced legislation to put an end to the largest remaining marine mammal slaughter in the world.

(Brussels, Belgium -- 2 March 2009) - The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) has welcomed a key European Parliament vote in favor of a ban on the import of seal products to the EU.

(Moscow, Russia -- 27 February 2009) - Russian ministers announced a complete ban on the hunt for “whitecoat harp” seals (pups up to about 11 days old) as the first step in an agreement to end the killing of all baby seals.

(Brussels – 23 July 2008) – Today’s announcement of a proposed ban on the trade in seal products in the European Union has been cautiously welcomed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) as a potential milestone in its founding campaign to end the cruel Canadian commercial seal hunt - but IFAW is concerned that loopholes in the legislation could still allow seal products from this cruel hunt to enter European markets.

(Ottawa, Canada, 4 April 2008) – As Canadian government officials continue a European tour in attempt to forestall an EU ban on seal products, IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) released new video evidence refuting the government’s claims that the humaneness of Canada’s commercial seal hunt has improved.

(Charlottetown, Canada, 28 March 2008) – A team of observers with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) is set to document the commercial seal hunt as it opens today in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.

(Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 28 March 2008) – Observers with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) have just returned after witnessing the first slaughter of harp seal pups during this year’s commercial seal hunt.

(Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 27 March 2008) – Today, experts with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) denounced the Canadian government’s claims that a new condition of license will improve the humaneness of Canada’s commercial seal hunt. The so-called ‘new’ regulations make no real changes to the way seals can be killed. They simply call for bleeding to be conducted at some point, “where possible” or even after the seal is finally brought onto the deck of a sealing vessel.

(Ottawa, Canada, 10 March 2008) - Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has once again decided to ignore scientific advice by setting the total allowable catch (TAC) for harp seals well above what the population can sustain. Conservationists around the world and experts with IFAW (Internatinal Fund for Animal Welfare) are appalled that the Canadian government has seen fit to actually increase the quota despite scientific evidence that the population is in decline.

(Moscow, Russia, 5 March 2008) – Today, Oleg Trutnev, Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources drafted a letter requesting the government to bring a full stop to Russia’s hunt for newborn whitecoat harp seals less than three weeks old. This first step in halting Russia’s harp seal hunt was applauded by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), which has been working in Canada and throughout the world to put an end to commercial seal hunts.

(Sweden, 05 March 2008) – A new opinion poll released today by leading animal welfare organisations reveals a majority of people in Sweden are opposed to Canada’s commercial seal hunt and would support a ban on the import of seal fur and other products.

(Washington, D.C., January 17, 2008) — Today the International Fund for Animal Welfare released On Thin Ice: The Precarious State of Arctic Marine Mammals in the United States Due to Global Warming, a comprehensive report commissioned to gauge the effects of unprecedented climate change on polar bears and other ice-dependent marine mammals within the United States.

(Vienna, Austria, 28 November 2007) – Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer today expressed his intent to support a national ban on the import of all seal products into Austria. Representatives from IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) presented the Chancellor with a petition requesting the implementation of a national trade ban and a poll showing that 84.7% of Austrians are opposed to Canada’s commercial seal hunt. In addition, the poll indicated that 80.5% of Austrians are in favor of passing a national ban on seal products.

(The Hague, Netherlands - 18 July 2007) One small step for seals, one giant step to end the brutal seal hunt. This is the message coming out of The Netherlands with news yesterday that all trade in seal products will now be banned. The decree was made official in the States' Journal. the country's official communication of Dutch laws, decrees & statutes, of July 17th 2007. This decision makes The Netherlands the second EU nation to ban seal products this year.

(Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, 2 April 2007) – Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt opened today, with total limits set this year for 270,000 harp seals. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has staggered the start dates this year, opening the hunt in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence today, while it has announced that the remainder of the gulf will be open for hunting from Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Conservationists worldwide, including experts with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org have condemned the hunt as cruel and unnecessary.

(Ottawa, Canada – 29 March 2007) – The Canadian government today announced the total allowable catch (TAC) of 270,000 harp seals during the 2007 commercial seal hunt, due to begin in the coming days. The announcement has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists worldwide including researchers with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org ), who worry that repeated failure by Canadian officials to properly manage the harp seal hunt as this year’s TAC continues to put the population at increased risk of depletion.

(Charlottetown, Canada, 27 March 2007) – Thousands of harp seal pups are assumed dead in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence due to the lack of ice floes, which mother seals require to give birth and nurse their pups successfully. Experts with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org ) have been carrying out daily surveillance flights over the region. They report that the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is the annual birthing ground of hundreds of thousands of harp seals, is essentially devoid of both ice and seals.

(Ottawa, Canada – 14 March 2007) – IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org) and its 2.5 million supporters worldwide today called on the Canadian government to cancel its annual commercial hunt of hundreds of thousands of seals off of eastern Canada, citing a disturbing lack of ice and ice-breeding seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. With temperatures now on the rise, ice conditions are expected to worsen, with just two weeks to go before the world’s largest hunt for marine mammals is set to begin.