Every year in April the Canadian Government sends ships out to the Canadian Sea ice to break up the ice so seal hunters can reach Harp seals for their pelts (skin). The Harp Seal is one of the many species of Seal. They allow a total of 400.000 seals to be killed annually but in reality this number is somewhere in the region of 30,000 to 50,000. Seals of often just a little more then 3 weeks old are being shot in the face and hit in the head with a hakapik (a type of club with a hook at the end). Then the seals are dragged over the ice and often skinned alive. Sometimes the Seals are clubbed and escape into sea where they often die hours later...

92% of the seal is wasted and dumped into sea. This industry would not survive if the Canadian government would not be subsidizing the hunt because it costs more then that it gains. The Canadian government blames the seals for being responsible for the declining fish population in the area and they promote it by saying Inuit people are just as bad. This is not comparable as they only kill 1 or 2 seals per family per day for food. 

The Canadian Government spreads false information to the Canadian public by telling them the seals which are killed are only adults and that all of the seal is used, not only 8%. Thankfully the European Union banned the import of Seal Products in 2010. Since then the amount of seal killings has declined by about 85%.

The Harp Seal is listed as 'Least Concern' by the IUCN