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Meet the IFAW Seal Team

David Lavigne
Science Advisor, IFAW Canada

David Lavigne is science advisor to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). From 1973-1996, he was a professor in the Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. After receiving his BSc in Zoology from the University of Western Ontario in 1968, he taught high school for one year before entering graduate school at the University of Guelph, completing an MSc in 1972 and a PhD in 1974, both for work on vision in seals. Remaining at Guelph as a faculty member, his research interests shifted, initially to problems of censusing harp seals to estimate annual pup production and population size. By 1975, the focus of his research was pinniped bioenergetics. For the latter work he earned a Dr philos degree from the University of Oslo in 1988. Currently, his major interests are in the areas of conservation biology, wildlife management, and natural resources policy.

Sheryl Fink
Senior Research and Projects Specialist, IFAW Canada

Sheryl Fink is a Senior Research and Projects Specialist working out of the Guelph (Canada) office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). She has a BSc in Wildlife Biology from the University of Guelph. Sheryl has been studying Canada’s commercial seal hunt since 1994. She began working for the International Marine Mammal Association (an IFAW organization) in 1998, and has worked for IFAW since 2000. Sheryl has worked on IFAW’s seal campaign for 10 years. As a researcher, she closely follows the latest scientific research and other ongoing developments surrounding the Canadian seal hunt. She has been part of IFAW’s on-ice seal hunt observation team for 6 years, and is currently a spokesperson for the seal campaign in Canada. She is also the author of IFAW’s annual publication Seals and Sealing in Canada. Most recently she was the Associate Editor of Gaining Ground: In Pursuit of Ecological Sustainability, which was published by the IFAW and the University of Limerick in June 2006.

Dr. Ralf Sonntag
Country Director, IFAW Germany

Dr. Ralf Sonntag joined IFAW as Director of the German office in Hamburg in August 2003. After completing his PhD as a Marine Biologist at University of Bremen on aspects of the 1988 seal die-off in the North Sea, he worked for several years on the German Small Cetacean Project as a scientist at the University of Kiel. He was a member of scientific committees of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and of the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS). He was very involved in the initiative for the establishment of a whale sanctuary for small cetaceans around the German North Sea Islands Sylt and Amrum.

After his work at the Universities of Bremen and Kiel, Dr. Sonntag took up a job for Greenpeace Germany, where he had already been an honorary team member for ten years. During this time he also played an active role in international high seas campaigns to fight pirate fisheries in waters of Antarctica; TBT pollution of the North Sea; and Norwegian whaling in the North Atlantic. Before beginning his career with IFAW, Dr. Sonntag was Campaigns Director with the animal welfare organization “Vier Pfoten”.

Robbie Marsland
Country Director, IFAW United Kingdom

Robbie Marsland joined IFAW in December 2002 as Head of Campaigns and Communications and became Director of the UK office in July 2006. Robbie leads a team of 35 dedicated staff working from London, working primarily on campaigns to end commercial whaling, to stop the Canadian seal hunt, to protect elephants and other endangered species from commercial trade, and to ensure the Hunting Act is enforced.

Cheryl Jacobson
International Seals Program Officer

Cheryl Jacobson is the Seal Program Officer for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. She started working for IFAW’s Seal Program in 1996 and has documented Canada’s commercial seal hunt for eight years. In her lengthy experience observing the hunt, Cheryl has documented and logged apparent violations of Canada’s Marine Mammal Regulations. In her current role, she oversees the coordination of IFAW’s seal campaign on an international level.

She has a Masters of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. Her previous experience includes working as a lobbyist and Wildlife Program Specialist for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She has also served as a Board Member for Equine Protection of North America (E.P.O.N.A.).

Historique des efforts de l'IFAW

2006		Un million de phoques tués
1996		Augmentation du quota de phoques du Groenland
1987		Interdiction de la chasse commerciale aux blanchons
1983		Embargo sur les peaux de blanchons
1969		Fondation de l'IFAW

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Pourquoi l'IFAW?

L'IFAW a mené la lutte pour mettre fin à l'abattage cruel des bébés phoques depuis les années 1960, ce qui a provoqué un embargo sur l'importation des peaux de blanchons nouveau nés en 1985. À l'heure actuelle, avec des bureaux dans 15 pays, l'IFAW est le principal organisme de bien être des animaux au monde et il lutte pour sauver les phoques à la fois sur la glace et par des recherches commerciales et scientifiques vitales. Plus d'infos >>

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