Over 1 million seals killed:

In between 2001 - 2005 over 1 million seals were reported killed. Some scientists estimate that for every seal that is reported, 1 death goes unreported. These bodies usually slip under the ice.

The Canadian government claims that this hunt will not harm the seal population but the facts dispute this. When Europeans initially landed there were an estimated 30 million seals. At this time the ocean was considered to be bottomless, it was believed that the fish population would never be exhausted for human consumption. The population of seals declined to 2 million in the 1970s.  After a USA and European ban on pelts the seal population recovered from low 1970 levels to 5.2 million in 1996. Seals at this point in time were only at 20% of their original numbers.

Fast forward to the year 2006. The Canadian fishing industry has collapsed. Fishermen in the East coast of Canada are unemployed. The Canadian government cannot blame itself for mismanaging the fishing industry. Instead it is using the seals as scapegoats. It is finding work for these fishermen and paying them to kill seals.

In the late 1990s seal hunting starts again, the seal population is being decimated faster than it can recover.

In 2001 sealers slaughtered 275 000 seals.

In 2002 sealers slaughtered a reported 312 000 seals.

In 2003 sealers slaughtered a reported 283 497 seals.

In 2004 sealers slaughtered 365 971 seals.

In 2005 sealers slaughtered 317 672 seals 

The numbers keep increasing every year, while the seal population keeps declining. Furthermore the above numbers to do take into consideration what fishermen refer to as 'struck and lost'.  This consists of the seals that slip into the icy water. It is widely believed that for every seal reported killed 1 goes unreported. This would easily make the number of seals killed since the year 2001 over 3 million.