Every year on the Canadian ice floes hundreds of thousands of seals are brutally bashed to death or shot by hunters for their pelts. Hunters are permitted to kill seal pups when they start to moult their downy white fur at around 12-15 days.
As a result many of the seals are only babies that haven’t even eaten their first solid meal or taken their first swim when they get a bullet through their skull or a club landing on their forehead. A study from 2006 published in The Journal of Animal Law detailed that in 42% of cases there was not enough evidence of cranial injury to guarantee unconsciousness at the time of skinning and in 79% of cases sealers did not check to ensure that the seals were dead prior to skinning them.
The European Union, the US and Mexico amongst other countries have already banned the import of seal fur or seal products because of the cruelty involved — a very strong sign that the international community condemns the hunt and wants it to end.