How Many Seals Are Killed Each Year?
Hundreds of thousands. In fact, over the past three years, nearly one million seals have been killed. The current kill levels are higher than they have been in half a century. The last time this many seals were killed—in the 1950s and 1960s—the harp seal population was reduced by nearly two thirds. And the actual number of seals killed is probably far higher than the number reported. Many seals are shot at and injured in the course of the hunt, and studies suggest that a significant number of these animals slip beneath the surface of the water, where they die slowly and are never recovered.
