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IFAW Animal Action Week 2006 - 1-7 October

7days that can change the world

IFAW Animal Action Week 20061-7 October

Making Wavesfor Seals

Seals in our seasDon't forget that there are lots of seals to be seen aroundour own coastline. The best places to see them are theWest Coast of South Africa, and the seal island coloniesin the Western Cape. Do remember that seals are wildanimals and they can give you a nasty bite (even if theylook cute) – so do keep your distance. Seals and dogsdon't get on very well - so please keep your dogs on alead, if there are seals in the area.

Don't forget to take your litter home with you (or evenbetter - recycle it!) – litter is a real threat to seals andother wildlife.

Did you know? About 100,000 marine mammals andturtles die each year from entanglement or ingestion ofplastics.

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The Magazine for pets and their people

CCaatteeggoorryy 66:: CCaammppaaiiggnneerr ooff tthhee YYeeaarrAn award that recognises the significanteffect of one person’s campaign to bringabout change in an area of animalwelfare.


CCaatteeggoorryy 11:: YYoouunngg AAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooThis is an award for any young personbelow the age of 16 years old who hasshown responsibility and care for animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 22:: LLiiffeettiimmee DDeeddiiccaattiioonnAAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooThis award recognises an individual whohas unselfishly worked for animal welfarethroughout their lives.

CCaatteeggoorryy 44:: PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall AAnniimmaallSSuuppeerrhheerrooThis is an award to salute the work of aveterinary professional who donates asignificant amount of their time toproviding care to animals inunderprivileged communities.

CCaatteeggoorryy 55:: CCoommmmuunniittyy AAnniimmaallSSuuppeerrhheerrooeessAn award for a community that takesresponsibility to provide care, love and ahealthy environment for their animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 77:: IInnddeeppeennddeennttRReehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn CCeennttrree ooff tthhee YYeeaarrThis award recognises the work of anindependent rehabilitation centre thatdoes not rely on funding from any majordonors.

CCaatteeggoorryy 88:: MMoosstt IInnnnoovvaattiivvee AAnniimmaallWWeellffaarree IInniittiiaattiivvee ooff tthhee YYeeaarrAn award that recognises an unusualanimal welfare initiative.

CCaatteeggoorryy 99:: TThhee HHaabbiittaatt AAwwaarrddThis award is for the person who hasworked to improve habitat andenvironment on behalf of animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 33:: AAnniimmaall RReehhaabbiilliittaattiioonnSSuuppeerrhheerrooThis award recognises the work of aperson who dedicated their lives to therehabilitation of animals affected byabuse or injury.

CChhoooossee wwhhoo yyoouu bbeelliieevvee aarree SSoouutthh AAffrriiccaa’ss rreeaall AAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooeess.. SSeenndd tthheeiirr nnaammee,, ccaatteeggoorryy aanndd ccoonnttaacctt ddeettaaiillss ffoorr tthheemm aanndd yyoouurrsseellff ttoo uuss::

IFAW/Animaltalk Action AwardsP O Box 16497

VLAEBERG8018

or fax them to:(021) 424 2427

or email them to:[email protected]

Rules: No staff, employees, family or individuals supported by Animaltalk or the International Fund for Animal welfare (IFAW) may benominated for the IFAW/Animaltalk Action awards. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

NNoommiinnaattiioonnss cclloossee oonn 3311 DDeecceemmbbeerr 22000066..

AAW06_booklet(1-3).qxd4 7/19/06 9:03 AM

The Story of Seals

The first seals lived in the Pacific Ocean offwhat is now California in the United States.Over millions of years they dispersedthroughout the north Pacific and into theAtlantic via an ancient waterway thatseparated North and South America. Theylater moved into the southern hemisphere.

Seals have evolved to take advantage of therich resources of the sea while maintainingclose ties to the land where they rest, moult,give birth and nurse their young. Today, sealsare found all over the world, but the largestnumbers live in the cold of the Arctic andAntarctic, where food is most abundant.

Many legends and stories have become partof the myth of these beautiful sea creatures. Insome tales the seals are said to turn into peoplewhen they come ashore. In one such story abeautiful girl turns back into a seal and istragically killed by her fisherman husband.

Although most seals feed mainly on fish theleopard seal eats penguins and sometimesother seals. The largest seal population in theworld belongs to the crabeater seal, whichdoes not actually eat crabs at all. It feeds onkrill (small shrimp-like creatures), which itfilters through teeth that are specially adaptedfor this purpose.

Seals come back toland, which is knownas ‘hauling out’, formany reasons,including resting,moulting, givingbirth and nursing.Species such as harpand hooded seals

haul out on to ice and turn this frozenparadise into a vast nursery with thousands ofseal pups and their mothers.

Some seals migrate thousands of kilometresbetween their feeding and breeding grounds.Others dive to incredible depths – the northernelephant seal holds the record for the deepestdive at more than 1,000 metres. The longestdive recorded is one hour, 13 minutes in theAntarctic by a Weddell seal.

They really are amazing animals!

Scientists believe that seals evolved from land animals - therelatives of modern mammals like dogs and bears. Thesecreatures took to the sea about 30 million years ago, perhapsbecause there was more food available there. The earliest fossilsof these seal ancestors date back more than 23 million years.

Elephant SizedThe largest of all species is the northern elephant seal, with male ‘bulls’weighing up to nearly four tonnes, as heavy as a large truck. They cangrow to 6.5m (21 ft) in length and got their name because their large nosesreminded people of the trunks of elephants. The smallest species in theworld are ringed and Baikal seals which weigh up to only 64 kg (140 lb)and measure 1.37 m (4 ft 6in) in length.

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Nose BalloonAdult male hooded seals have the strange ability to inflate the black sac, or‘hood’, which hangs over the end of their nose. Adult males can also inflatethe skin-like membrane in their noses, so it forms a large red balloon. Theydo this when they are being aggressive or defensive, and possibly to impressthe females!

Other Hunts and Culls Around the WorldThere are several other commercial annual hunts around the world. About75,000 harp seals from the same population as those off the coast of Canadaare landed in Greenland’s summer hunt. In Russia more than 40,000 harpseals are targeted, plus 40,000 fur seals in Namibia and Norway kills 9,500seals in the White Sea and thousands of others off its own coast. The SouthAfrican fur seal hunt was suspended in 1990. However, the numbers listedabove do not necessarily tell the full story – the Greenland hunt actually killsover 150,000 seals, because for every animal that is landed, an additionalone has been killed but not recovered. Scientists point to this as one of the

cruellest aspects of all such hunting. This alsoleads to unsustainability since the numbers arenot included in the hunt or population statistics.

Common or harbour seals are found in UKwaters as well as 35% of the global population ofgrey seals. In Scotland there have been repeatedcalls for culls of seals. These calls are led byfishermen who are concerned that the seals areeating large amounts of fish that they believe

would otherwise be available for them to bring ashore. The law in Britain isso vague that seals can even be shot if they are just in an area where fishinggear is in use. Research shows most people in Scotland (80%) think that sealsare an important part of Scotland’s wildlife.

The Australian fur seal is also regarded as a problem by fishermen and asignificant number are killed each year in traps and nets or shot.

Fisheries CompetitionThe claim that seals are damaging fish stocks is always used as one of theexcuses for commercial seal hunts and culls.

However, scientists say the simplistic argument that seals eat fish andtherefore if you kill them there will be more fish for fishermen is nonsense.Seals eat many predators of commercially caught fish and removing sealsmay in fact have the opposite effect and actually reduce those fish numbers.The reality is that the situation is incredibly complex, but overfishing isuniversally accepted as the primary cause of collapsing fish populations.

Scientists report that the hunt puts the harpseal population in danger because killingsuch high numbers each year is notsustainable. A recent study shows that theCanadian government’s plan for harp sealsrisks reducing the population by 70%.Scientists also point out that there is noevidence that killing seals helps protect fishstocks. The collapse of the cod stocks inCanada was caused by overfishing – evenmost fishermen agree that is the case.

With subsidies in the late 1990s of $20million CDN as well as other expenses, thehunt costs Canadian taxpayers money andyet accounts for only a small part of afisherman’s income.

Harp seals give birth to their young in theGulf of St Lawrence and off the coast ofNewfoundland, Canada in late Februaryand early March each year turning the icefloes into a giant white nursery. Despite adecision in the 1980s by the EuropeanEconomic Community to ban the import ofwhitecoat seal pup pelts, in recent yearsmore than 95% of the seals killed are lessthan three months old. It is legal to kill sealpups once they start to moult, which is atabout 14 days old.

The sealers use clubs and guns to kill theanimals. For the clubs they sometimes havehakapiks, which have a large metal spikeon the end. One of the problems withshooting is that seals are sometimeswounded and go back into the water to dieslow and painful deaths.

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AAW06_booklet(inter) 7/14/06 12:01 PM Page 1

Seal Hunting

Shivering SealsWhen harp seals pups are first born they keep warm by shivering. Insidetheir mother’s womb it is cosy, but once they enter the icy world outsidethey often face temperatures below freezing.

HistoryOver the past 200 years, commercial huntinghas brought some species to the brink ofextinction. In the 19th century, fewer than 100northern elephant seals were left alive –today’s elephant seal population is descendedfrom just those few. Walruses were also huntedextensively for ivory and their blubber, whichwas made into oil. The Atlantic walrus used tolive all along the east coast of North Americafrom Labrador to Cape Cod, but the entireeast coast population was hunted to localextinction by 1800.

Seals have been hunted in most places wherethey have had contact with people, butgradually the majority of countries have endedthe killing. However, large scale commercialhunting still takes place in Canada, Russia,Greenland, Norway and Namibia.

The Largest MarineMammal Hunt in the WorldBetween 2003-2005 more than one millionharp seals were killed in Canada, making itby far the largest hunt for any marinemammal in the world. The quota for thehunt in 2006 was 335,000 which is one ofthe highest ever.

This huge hunt has been hotly debated bythe pro and anti-sealing sides of the issuefor many years. The Canadian governmentand other seal hunt supporters say it ishumane and well regulated. They claim it isnecessary to control seal numbers so thatthey don’t eat too many of the fish thatfishermen rely on for a living. Thoseopposed to it, which includes manyCanadians and millions of other peoplearound the world, argue that it is cruel, putsthe seal population at risk and damagesCanada’s image.

Today an average of more than 300,000harp seals are killed every year in Canada,mainly so their fur can be used by thefashion industry around the world. The killingof 10,000 hooded seals each year is alsopermitted in Canada.

Seals have been hunted for centuries. The Inuit have alwayshunted seals in the Arctic. Archaeological evidence suggests thatseals were hunted by people living on the east coast of NorthAmerica 4,000 years ago. It is also known that they providedfood and fur to Norse settlers in Greenland from around 985 AD.

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The scientific name for seals is pinnipeds, which means fin-footed and refers to their webbed feet.

Seal Science

There are 33 species of seals and sea lions.These are divided into three families orgroups. There are 18 species of true seals,which are also known as ‘earless seals’ andhave small holes for ears just behind theireyes. The second group includes 14 speciesof fur seals and sea lions, which are oftencalled eared seals because of their smallexternal ear flap. Finally there is the walrus,which merits a group all of its own. It has acombination of the features of the other twotypes of seal, but also some majordifferences. Unlike other pinnipeds the walrusis the only species which grows large tusks.

Seals range in size from small female fur sealsof about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) to hugemale northern elephant seals weighing 3,600kilograms (almost four tonnes) – more than 40people would normally weigh! In many speciesthe males are larger than the females.

True seals cannot bring their rear flippersforward to walk on land. They use strong clawson their front flippers to haul themselves alongthe ice or ground. Fur seals and sea lions canbring their hind flippers beneath their body sothey can sit upright, walk or run on land, even

though rather awkwardly.

Seals are perfectly adapted totheir underwater environment.Their bodies are sleek andstreamlined for swimming fast.Their eyes and noses are on thetop of their head making it easyto breathe at the surface of thewater. They can even sleepunderwater for brief periods.

Seals are warm blooded andfeed on their mother’s milk aspups. This milk has such a highfat content that some seal pupswill put on as much as 2.2 kg (5 lbs) a day in weight – theequivalent of about five averagesized cans of baked beans. Mostof that growth goes into a layerof fat under their skin, which iscalled blubber.

True seal

Eared seal

These seals are named ‘true seals’ because they have no earflaps.

These seals are named‘eared seals’ becausethey have earflaps.

Cool CustomersSeals are so well insulated they can overheat. To cool down in warmerclimates, they bury themselves in the cool sand. To cool off in the sea, furseals and sea lions wave their hind flippers above the water.

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Threats to Seals

Sad Seals?Seals have beautiful large eyes, but they lack the ducts to drain away tearsand so on land they often appear to be ‘crying’. In reality it is just becausethere is nowhere else for the water to go.

Trapped in NetsEvery year thousands of seals become entangledin fishing nets and drown. Drift nets are giantfishing nets which float free in the sea. They are sometimes tens of kilometres longand huge numbers of seals and other marinemammals, and even diving birds, are caught inthese underwater walls of death.

PollutionThe oceans are being used as dumpinggrounds for all sorts of waste that is harmful toseals and all marine life. The poisonouschemicals from industry and even from our

Front or Rear EngineEared seals swim with their front flippers and use the rear ones to steer.But earless seals swim using their rear flippers for propulsion and frontflippers for steering.

everyday lives at work, school and home alltoo often find their way into the sea. This toxicwaste, including pesticides, can end upcollecting in the blubber of seals. It isbelieved the seal population in the Baltic Seais declining because of pollutants that affectthe seals’ reproduction. Toxic factory wastefrom paper mills has also been dumped intothe world’s largest fresh water lake in Russia,Lake Baikal, home of the Baikal seal.

Habitat Loss and ClimateChangeAs humans have developed coastal areas andencroached on the seas of the world, oftenmaking them busy shipping highways, parts ofthese important habitats have been closed offto seals and other marine life. Climate changemay have a number of significant impacts onseal populations, not the least becausewarming temperatures are greatly reducingthe ice where some seal species traditionallyhaul out to give birth to their young.

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Apart from commercial hunting, seals face many other threatsaround the world. These include entanglement in nets, pollution,habitat loss and climate change.

AAW06_booklet(inter).qxd4 7/10/06 6:57 PM Page 6

Seal Hunting

Shivering SealsWhen harp seals pups are first born they keep warm by shivering. Insidetheir mother’s womb it is cosy, but once they enter the icy world outsidethey often face temperatures below freezing.

HistoryOver the past 200 years, commercial huntinghas brought some species to the brink ofextinction. In the 19th century, fewer than 100northern elephant seals were left alive –today’s elephant seal population is descendedfrom just those few. Walruses were also huntedextensively for ivory and their blubber, whichwas made into oil. The Atlantic walrus used tolive all along the east coast of North Americafrom Labrador to Cape Cod, but the entireeast coast population was hunted to localextinction by 1800.

Seals have been hunted in most places wherethey have had contact with people, butgradually the majority of countries have endedthe killing. However, large scale commercialhunting still takes place in Canada, Russia,Greenland, Norway and Namibia.

The Largest MarineMammal Hunt in the WorldBetween 2003-2005 more than one millionharp seals were killed in Canada, making itby far the largest hunt for any marinemammal in the world. The quota for thehunt in 2006 was 335,000 which is one ofthe highest ever.

This huge hunt has been hotly debated bythe pro and anti-sealing sides of the issuefor many years. The Canadian governmentand other seal hunt supporters say it ishumane and well regulated. They claim it isnecessary to control seal numbers so thatthey don’t eat too many of the fish thatfishermen rely on for a living. Thoseopposed to it, which includes manyCanadians and millions of other peoplearound the world, argue that it is cruel, putsthe seal population at risk and damagesCanada’s image.

Today an average of more than 300,000harp seals are killed every year in Canada,mainly so their fur can be used by thefashion industry around the world. The killingof 10,000 hooded seals each year is alsopermitted in Canada.

Seals have been hunted for centuries. The Inuit have alwayshunted seals in the Arctic. Archaeological evidence suggests thatseals were hunted by people living on the east coast of NorthAmerica 4,000 years ago. It is also known that they providedfood and fur to Norse settlers in Greenland from around 985 AD.

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The scientific name for seals is pinnipeds, which means fin-footed and refers to their webbed feet.

Seal Science

There are 33 species of seals and sea lions.These are divided into three families orgroups. There are 18 species of true seals,which are also known as ‘earless seals’ andhave small holes for ears just behind theireyes. The second group includes 14 speciesof fur seals and sea lions, which are oftencalled eared seals because of their smallexternal ear flap. Finally there is the walrus,which merits a group all of its own. It has acombination of the features of the other twotypes of seal, but also some majordifferences. Unlike other pinnipeds the walrusis the only species which grows large tusks.

Seals range in size from small female fur sealsof about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) to hugemale northern elephant seals weighing 3,600kilograms (almost four tonnes) – more than 40people would normally weigh! In many speciesthe males are larger than the females.

True seals cannot bring their rear flippersforward to walk on land. They use strong clawson their front flippers to haul themselves alongthe ice or ground. Fur seals and sea lions canbring their hind flippers beneath their body sothey can sit upright, walk or run on land, even

though rather awkwardly.

Seals are perfectly adapted totheir underwater environment.Their bodies are sleek andstreamlined for swimming fast.Their eyes and noses are on thetop of their head making it easyto breathe at the surface of thewater. They can even sleepunderwater for brief periods.

Seals are warm blooded andfeed on their mother’s milk aspups. This milk has such a highfat content that some seal pupswill put on as much as 2.2 kg (5 lbs) a day in weight – theequivalent of about five averagesized cans of baked beans. Mostof that growth goes into a layerof fat under their skin, which iscalled blubber.

True seal

Eared seal

These seals are named ‘true seals’ because they have no earflaps.

These seals are named‘eared seals’ becausethey have earflaps.

Cool CustomersSeals are so well insulated they can overheat. To cool down in warmerclimates, they bury themselves in the cool sand. To cool off in the sea, furseals and sea lions wave their hind flippers above the water.

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The Story of Seals

The first seals lived in the Pacific Ocean offwhat is now California in the United States.Over millions of years they dispersedthroughout the north Pacific and into theAtlantic via an ancient waterway thatseparated North and South America. Theylater moved into the southern hemisphere.

Seals have evolved to take advantage of therich resources of the sea while maintainingclose ties to the land where they rest, moult,give birth and nurse their young. Today, sealsare found all over the world, but the largestnumbers live in the cold of the Arctic andAntarctic, where food is most abundant.

Many legends and stories have become partof the myth of these beautiful sea creatures. Insome tales the seals are said to turn into peoplewhen they come ashore. In one such story abeautiful girl turns back into a seal and istragically killed by her fisherman husband.

Although most seals feed mainly on fish theleopard seal eats penguins and sometimesother seals. The largest seal population in theworld belongs to the crabeater seal, whichdoes not actually eat crabs at all. It feeds onkrill (small shrimp-like creatures), which itfilters through teeth that are specially adaptedfor this purpose.

Seals come back toland, which is knownas ‘hauling out’, formany reasons,including resting,moulting, givingbirth and nursing.Species such as harpand hooded seals

haul out on to ice and turn this frozenparadise into a vast nursery with thousands ofseal pups and their mothers.

Some seals migrate thousands of kilometresbetween their feeding and breeding grounds.Others dive to incredible depths – the northernelephant seal holds the record for the deepestdive at more than 1,000 metres. The longestdive recorded is one hour, 13 minutes in theAntarctic by a Weddell seal.

They really are amazing animals!

Scientists believe that seals evolved from land animals - therelatives of modern mammals like dogs and bears. Thesecreatures took to the sea about 30 million years ago, perhapsbecause there was more food available there. The earliest fossilsof these seal ancestors date back more than 23 million years.

Elephant SizedThe largest of all species is the northern elephant seal, with male ‘bulls’weighing up to nearly four tonnes, as heavy as a large truck. They cangrow to 6.5m (21 ft) in length and got their name because their large nosesreminded people of the trunks of elephants. The smallest species in theworld are ringed and Baikal seals which weigh up to only 64 kg (140 lb)and measure 1.37 m (4 ft 6in) in length.

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Nose BalloonAdult male hooded seals have the strange ability to inflate the black sac, or‘hood’, which hangs over the end of their nose. Adult males can also inflatethe skin-like membrane in their noses, so it forms a large red balloon. Theydo this when they are being aggressive or defensive, and possibly to impressthe females!

Other Hunts and Culls Around the WorldThere are several other commercial annual hunts around the world. About75,000 harp seals from the same population as those off the coast of Canadaare landed in Greenland’s summer hunt. In Russia more than 40,000 harpseals are targeted, plus 40,000 fur seals in Namibia and Norway kills 9,500seals in the White Sea and thousands of others off its own coast. The SouthAfrican fur seal hunt was suspended in 1990. However, the numbers listedabove do not necessarily tell the full story – the Greenland hunt actually killsover 150,000 seals, because for every animal that is landed, an additionalone has been killed but not recovered. Scientists point to this as one of the

cruellest aspects of all such hunting. This alsoleads to unsustainability since the numbers arenot included in the hunt or population statistics.

Common or harbour seals are found in UKwaters as well as 35% of the global population ofgrey seals. In Scotland there have been repeatedcalls for culls of seals. These calls are led byfishermen who are concerned that the seals areeating large amounts of fish that they believe

would otherwise be available for them to bring ashore. The law in Britain isso vague that seals can even be shot if they are just in an area where fishinggear is in use. Research shows most people in Scotland (80%) think that sealsare an important part of Scotland’s wildlife.

The Australian fur seal is also regarded as a problem by fishermen and asignificant number are killed each year in traps and nets or shot.

Fisheries CompetitionThe claim that seals are damaging fish stocks is always used as one of theexcuses for commercial seal hunts and culls.

However, scientists say the simplistic argument that seals eat fish andtherefore if you kill them there will be more fish for fishermen is nonsense.Seals eat many predators of commercially caught fish and removing sealsmay in fact have the opposite effect and actually reduce those fish numbers.The reality is that the situation is incredibly complex, but overfishing isuniversally accepted as the primary cause of collapsing fish populations.

Scientists report that the hunt puts the harpseal population in danger because killingsuch high numbers each year is notsustainable. A recent study shows that theCanadian government’s plan for harp sealsrisks reducing the population by 70%.Scientists also point out that there is noevidence that killing seals helps protect fishstocks. The collapse of the cod stocks inCanada was caused by overfishing – evenmost fishermen agree that is the case.

With subsidies in the late 1990s of $20million CDN as well as other expenses, thehunt costs Canadian taxpayers money andyet accounts for only a small part of afisherman’s income.

Harp seals give birth to their young in theGulf of St Lawrence and off the coast ofNewfoundland, Canada in late Februaryand early March each year turning the icefloes into a giant white nursery. Despite adecision in the 1980s by the EuropeanEconomic Community to ban the import ofwhitecoat seal pup pelts, in recent yearsmore than 95% of the seals killed are lessthan three months old. It is legal to kill sealpups once they start to moult, which is atabout 14 days old.

The sealers use clubs and guns to kill theanimals. For the clubs they sometimes havehakapiks, which have a large metal spikeon the end. One of the problems withshooting is that seals are sometimeswounded and go back into the water to dieslow and painful deaths.

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Seals are amongst the most wonderful and beautiful wildanimals that we may ever encounter. For more than 30years IFAW has been campaigning internationally to protectseals around the world.

Protecting SealsAround the World

Seal SongMale bearded seals are very vocal and produce a distinctive song, perhapseven a dialect unique to specific regions. These songs may be used toattract females or to defend underwater territories during the springbreeding season.

In the 21st century the modern approachadvised by scientists is to begin protectingand conserving wildlife and their habitatslong before species become rare and moredifficult and costly to protect. At present, athird of all seal species are listed on theIUCN Red List, which means they are at risk.In some cases, such as the Mediterraneanmonk seal, the species is listed as criticallyendangered.

Campaigning AgainstHuntingThe campaign against the Canadian seal huntis backed by politicians from across Europe,the US and other parts of the world. Accordingto a 2005 poll, 69% of Canadians wereopposed to the commercial hunting of seals.

The three key reasons for oppositionto the hunt are:

• cruelty – a recent report by aninternational panel of veterinarians estimatesthat up to 42% of the seals are skinned alive.Clubbing is inherently cruel and shootingoften leaves seals to die slow and painfuldeaths underwater

• not sustainable – scientists warn thatthe current level of killing cannot continuewithout putting the harp seal population at risk

• not economically viable – recentCanadian government grants of $20 millionCDN far outweigh the annual value of sealscaught and sold. Sealing accounts for lessthan one tenth of one per cent ofNewfoundland’s economy and is only a smallfraction of a fishermen’s income.

The biggest success in the campaign againstthe Canadian seal hunt was when theEuropean Economic Community banned theimport of whitecoat harp seal pup pelts in the1980s. At this time, the whitecoat was theprime pelt and hunt numbers droppedsubstantially for several years, but have nowrisen sharply again.

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Animal ActionAwardsIFAW’s awardsnow run in 15

countries all around the world. The IFAW Animal Action Awardsare run in the UK in partnershipwith Animaltalk magazine and are presented at theHouse of Lords each year. If you know someonewho has done something outstanding for animalsthen you can nominate them for an award. Perhapsthey devote their lives to saving animals at asanctuary, campaign tirelessly for animal welfare orhave carried out a brave rescue of an animal. We want to recognise these exceptional people, sotell us why you think they should receive an awardby writing to:

IFAW Animal Action Awards, P O Box 16497, Vlaeberg, 8018, South Africa.

Please include details about your nominee’s workand daytime contact numbers for both of you.

lAdopt a Seall- for Free

With BBC TV VetSteve LeonardYou can join IFAW’sweb-based free sealadoption programmeand be a part of ourcampaign for theirprotection. In this wayyou will receive email updates on all IFAW’scampaigns and other great benefits. Because thisactivity is completely free, the adoptionprogramme can only be run on the internet toavoid costly postage and printing.

All you have to do is register for the adoptionprogramme on our IFAW Animal Action Week website. Find this by going to IFAW’s home page atwww.ifaw.org and following the links to AnimalAction Week.

Your adoption includes:

•an adoption certificate with your seal’s photo

•email updates about IFAW campaigns

•a special report

•a special screen saver of your seal

•a special card to send to friends via email.

Web GameBe the first of your friends to livelike a seal with your very own sealcolony at www.ifaw.org. Build athriving online seal paradise and

have your colony declared a natural wonder! You'llhave to work with others to fend off threats, createalliances and protect your seals. Also visit the website to download materials, watch clips from ourvideo Making Waves for Seals and enjoy otherinteractive pages.

Email Alert With Animal Planet TV presenterShauna LowryLet your friends know about IFAW Animal ActionWeek and our campaign Making Waves for Seals.Send out our email alert to as many friends andfamily as possible and get them to be a part of theaction as well.

Design aCalendar

With artist Noel Ashton Help our celebrity judge NoelAshton, a renowned cetaceanartist, create a calendar fornext year. Paint or draw acolourful picture of one of theanimal species that IFAW helps to save. The overallwinner will receive a seal watching trip for two inHermanus, Western Cape. A selection of the winningentries will be used to create our Animal Action Weekwall calendar for 2007. An entry form is included inthis pack.

FundraisingOne of the best ways you canhelp IFAW help seals and otheranimals is to raise funds for ourwork. Perhaps you can do asponsored event, such as a run,walk, swim or other fundraising

activity and get support from your friends and family.A sponsorship form is included in the pack to helpyou. You can use your own great fundraising ideastoo.

Join IFAWShow that you care about animals and theenvironment in which they live. Become a supporterby writing to:

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), P O Box 16497, Vlaeberg, 8018, South Africa.

or go to our web site at www.ifaw.org

rIFAW Animal Action Week 2006........1-7 October

t Can Change the World

Seal PetitionOne of the greatest threats toseals is being hunted mostly sotheir fur can be used in thefashion industry around the

world. Every year hundreds of thousands of sealsare killed to satisfy this demand. One of the bestways to stop this is to ban seal skins and sealparts from being imported into countries. Alreadya number of governments aroundthe world have such bans. Nowthe UK government is beingasked to introduce a ban andthis petition will help persuadethe politicians to take action.

Free T-ShirtCollect 100 signatures andyou will receive a FREEAnimal Action Week T-shirt.

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Animal Action Week is nowin its 14th year. It is

organized by IFAW(International Fund forAnimal Welfare –www.ifaw.org) in 15countries all around theworld and reachesmany more thanks tothe internet.

There are activities foreveryone, but the focus is

mainly on young people.The week’s goals areeducation, awareness and

campaigning. Becominginvolved in Animal Action Week

is your chance to play a part insaving animals around the globe.

You could participate in our educationprogramme, or perhaps nominate someone for

our IFAW Animal Action Awards.Although attention is focused around the actual week,activities are not limited to just those seven days. Many people get involved long before and continue withtheir efforts well after the official week. You can join in and help save animals as partof the campaign whenever it suits you.

Animal Action Week is supported by AnimaltalkIFAW and Animaltalk are partnering to promote Animal Action Weekinternationally in 2006. Both IFAW and Animaltalk are focused ongenerating interest in animal welfare and bringing powerful storiesto the public’s attention.

Free Film andEducation PackGet your school or youth group to join in. Wehave a superb 15-minute film (video and CD),

introduced by actor Goran Visnjic, all about seals and the threats theyface. The education pack is ideal for young people of all ages, but hasbeen particularly designed to be appropriate for school classes for 11-14 year olds. The education pack includes a special eight-pageclassroom guide in colour with pages that can be photocopied forstudents. All the material is also downloadable from the web.

Any teacher or youth group leader can obtain it in thefollowing way.

Write to: Free Film and Education Pack, IFAWP O Box 16497Vlaeberg, 8018South Africa

Fax to: 021 424 2086

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 021 424 2427

Sealing their FateWhen I visited the seal ‘nursery’ on the ice in the Gulf of St Lawrence,Canada with my family it was a wildlife experience of a lifetime. None of

us will ever forget it. Seals are even more beautiful than any photographs canprepare you for when you first encounter these wonderful animals in theirnatural habitat. That’s why it was hard for any of us to believe that just daysafter we had seen them, many of the seal pups would be killed.

Today, seals face many threats, including pollution, global warming,entanglement in fishing nets, and hunting. In the past, many species have beenpushed to the brink of extinction and others are now under serious threat.

IFAW has been campaigning to protect seals formore than 35 years and indeed it was thecampaign on which the organizationwas first founded.

It is important that we cherishand preserve these wonderfulmarine mammals for allgenerations to come. I hopeyou enjoy discovering moreabout seals through IFAWAnimal Action Week -together we can work towardsa safe future for them.”

Fred O’Regan (President)

W ith the activities we have lined up forIFAW Animal Action Week this year wereally can all make a difference.

In this information booklet you will see why it isso important to help with the issues facing seals.

You will find outmore about theirhistory, biologyand threats theyface - then, if you want to, youcan also do yourpart to helpprotect seals.

What is Animal Action Week?

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In the past two years a number ofcountries have introduced, or areconsidering, bans on the import of sealskins and seal products, including Italy,Belgium, Croatia, Mexico, the UK and theNetherlands. In the United States sealimports are already prohibited.

IFAW has also campaigned against theseal hunts in Russia, Namibia, Norwayand Greenland and opposed seal culls inScotland, Australia and other parts of theworld.

Mediterranean Monk SealsThe Mediterranean monk seal is on thebrink of extinction and is the mostendangered marine mammal in Europe.There are only about 500 left alive in theworld!

IFAW is co-funding a four-year project tolook at interactions between monk sealsand fisherman in order to try and reducethe deliberate and accidental killing of themonk seals. Recently IFAW has producedsurveys on monk seals by collaboratingwith fishermen and using its researchvessel, Song of the Whale.

Rescues – Cape CodThe shores of Cape Cod are renowned forwhale strandings and sometimes sick orwounded seals are also found on thebeaches. IFAW works with the Cape CodStranding Network team to help rescue themand release them back out into the sea.

Oil SpillsIFAW’s Emergency Relief Team worksaround the world to protect marine wildlifewhen there are major oil spills. IFAW alsocampaigns internationally to stop shipsdeliberately dumping bilge oil and toimprove shipping regulations so that oiltankers must have twin hulls and are lesslikely to spill oil if they run aground.

Ice LoversPagophilic is a technical term meaning ice-loving. Pagophilic seals arethose who use ice for some period in their life-cycle. Pagophilus is thegenus to which the harp seal belongs. Its scientific name, Pagophilusgroenlandicus, means "the ice-lover from Greenland".

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7 Days tha



IFAW Animal Action Week 2006 - 1-7 October

7days that can change the world

IFAW Animal Action Week 20061-7 October

Making Wavesfor Seals

Seals in our seasDon't forget that there are lots of seals to be seen aroundour own coastline. The best places to see them are theWest Coast of South Africa, and the seal island coloniesin the Western Cape. Do remember that seals are wildanimals and they can give you a nasty bite (even if theylook cute) – so do keep your distance. Seals and dogsdon't get on very well - so please keep your dogs on alead, if there are seals in the area.

Don't forget to take your litter home with you (or evenbetter - recycle it!) – litter is a real threat to seals andother wildlife.

Did you know? About 100,000 marine mammals andturtles die each year from entanglement or ingestion ofplastics.

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CCaatteeggoorryy 66:: CCaammppaaiiggnneerr ooff tthhee YYeeaarrAn award that recognises the significanteffect of one person’s campaign to bringabout change in an area of animalwelfare.


CCaatteeggoorryy 11:: YYoouunngg AAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooThis is an award for any young personbelow the age of 16 years old who hasshown responsibility and care for animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 22:: LLiiffeettiimmee DDeeddiiccaattiioonnAAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooThis award recognises an individual whohas unselfishly worked for animal welfarethroughout their lives.

CCaatteeggoorryy 44:: PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall AAnniimmaallSSuuppeerrhheerrooThis is an award to salute the work of aveterinary professional who donates asignificant amount of their time toproviding care to animals inunderprivileged communities.

CCaatteeggoorryy 55:: CCoommmmuunniittyy AAnniimmaallSSuuppeerrhheerrooeessAn award for a community that takesresponsibility to provide care, love and ahealthy environment for their animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 77:: IInnddeeppeennddeennttRReehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn CCeennttrree ooff tthhee YYeeaarrThis award recognises the work of anindependent rehabilitation centre thatdoes not rely on funding from any majordonors.

CCaatteeggoorryy 88:: MMoosstt IInnnnoovvaattiivvee AAnniimmaallWWeellffaarree IInniittiiaattiivvee ooff tthhee YYeeaarrAn award that recognises an unusualanimal welfare initiative.

CCaatteeggoorryy 99:: TThhee HHaabbiittaatt AAwwaarrddThis award is for the person who hasworked to improve habitat andenvironment on behalf of animals.

CCaatteeggoorryy 33:: AAnniimmaall RReehhaabbiilliittaattiioonnSSuuppeerrhheerrooThis award recognises the work of aperson who dedicated their lives to therehabilitation of animals affected byabuse or injury.

CChhoooossee wwhhoo yyoouu bbeelliieevvee aarree SSoouutthh AAffrriiccaa’ss rreeaall AAnniimmaall SSuuppeerrhheerrooeess.. SSeenndd tthheeiirr nnaammee,, ccaatteeggoorryy aanndd ccoonnttaacctt ddeettaaiillss ffoorr tthheemm aanndd yyoouurrsseellff ttoo uuss::

IFAW/Animaltalk Action AwardsP O Box 16497

VLAEBERG8018

or fax them to:(021) 424 2427

or email them to:[email protected]

Rules: No staff, employees, family or individuals supported by Animaltalk or the International Fund for Animal welfare (IFAW) may benominated for the IFAW/Animaltalk Action awards. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

NNoommiinnaattiioonnss cclloossee oonn 3311 DDeecceemmbbeerr 22000066..


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