A small piece of baby harp seal fur in mint condition is worth as much as $7000 USD, so it's no wonder the trafficking of these animal is so profitable and that every means necessary is used not to damage their skin, even if it means using excruciatingly cruel ways of killing the animals. One way of putting down the baby seal is by shooting it, it's quick and painless, but the skin is damaged. Another method, much more brutal, is to beat the animal to death with a hakapik (a wooden bat), which leaves the fur intact. Important detail: over 90% of slaughtered seals through the latter process are only a few weeks or even days old.
Paradoxically, this type of hunting, just as cruel as, or even more cruel than whaling is still allowed in some countries. One of them is the civilized Canada, the subject of huge international pressure, that argues, as a defense, that the canadian government only grants permits to private businesses. However, they set an anual quota of a quarter of a million baby harp seals killed... Another country that still allows the slaughter of these animals is Russia, in which there is actually intensive breeding of harp seals in captivity.
