International Fund for Animal Welfare

Peter LaFontaine is a Campaigns Officer with the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) Washington, D.C. office.

LaFontaine helps to lead IFAW’s U.S. federal and state efforts to safeguard elephants and other species threatened by illegal wildlife trafficking, and advocates for stronger measures to address climate change. Prior to joining IFAW, LaFontaine worked for the National Wildlife Federation on climate change, fossil fuel, and natural resource adaptation issues, and he was a staff naturalist for the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation in New Mexico.

LaFontaine holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and is a recent graduate of the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program.

Last Updated: June 9, 2015

China’s Proposed Ivory Ban: Breakthrough or B.S.?

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
China’s surprise announcement that it will phase out the trade and manufacturing of ivory came as a rare piece of good news for Africa’s rapidly shrinking elephant population. While most major international wildlife groups welcomed Beijing’s new...