BRIAN DAVIES (1935-2022)

12/29/2022

Brian Davies. (February 4, 1935 - December 27, 2022

Founder - International Fund for Animal Welfare)

I first met Brian Davies in 1975. David Garrick and I were organizing the first Greenpeace campaign to protect baby harp seals. Brian began the international campaign to protect harp seals, had written a couple of books and became a helicopter pilot so he could go to the sealing areas on the ice in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

He was of great help to us in organizing the first Greenpeace seal campaigns on the ice off Labrador in 1976 and 1977.

Many groups campaigned to stop the seal slaughter including Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, the Fund for Animals and the RSPCA but it was Brian Davies who began the campaign, built it into an international movement and led the fight to ban the sale of seal products in Europe.

As a Canadian he was vilified by the pro-slaughter Trudeau government, called a traitor to the nation by the Canadian Parliament and had his tax exempt status withdrawn. He was harassed to the point where he moved his base and his home to the United States.

Following in his footsteps, Sea Shepherd was stripped of tax exempt status, I was called a traitor to the nation and I also moved my base and home to the United States.

The most aggressive defenders of seals in Canada have always been Canadians forced out of the country and then accused of being foreign activists when they continue their work.

Although denounced by his own country, Brian's life was a testament to defending non-human Canadian lives. His work saved millions of seals. He was also active in saving many other species and working to prevent cruelty to animals all over the world.

He made a difference and left this world in a better condition for the welfare of animals than the world he was born into.

He was 87.