50 years of animals and people thriving together
A Message from our CEO
When a group of activists first witnessed newborn seal pups being slaughtered on the ice floes in East Coast of Canada, every one of them asked the same question:
What can I do about it?
They answered that question by founding IFAW in 1969. During those early years, IFAW was committed to one problem threatening one species in one part of the world. And in 1983, with the European ban on whitecoat Harp seal products, we saved more than one million seal pups in the process.
Since then, we’ve taken on more problems threatening more species, including our own, in more than 40 countries. Today, we are rescuing more animals and conserving more habitats, on land and at sea, than at any other point in our history. And it almost always starts with one person or one community asking that same question:
What can I do about it?
Every problem has a solution, every solution needs support.
The problems we face are urgent, complicated, and resistant to change. Real solutions demand creativity, hard work, and involvement from people like you.