article_snippet: Last month, Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea set the biggest marine animal hunt on the planet quota to 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals  - a total of more than 468,000 animals.
article_snippet: 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals  - a total of more than 468,000 animals are mainly killed for 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals  - a total of more than 468,000 animals pelts, but hunters also sell hunters blubber, which is used to make ‘seal oil’ and sold as a health supplement, and the penises, which are a popular ingredient in aphrodisiacs in some Asian markets.
article_snippet: In order to avoid damage to the pelts, a majority of 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals  - a total of more than 468,000 animals are killed with clubs or a ‘hakapik’
article_snippet: independent, international team of veterinarians found evidence that up to 40 per cent of 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals  - a total of more than 468,000 animals
article_snippet: The 2015 seal hunt quota to 400,000 harp seals, 60,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals - a total of more than 468,000 animals . '
article_snippet: The seal hunt quota set by the Canadian government has rolled over from last season and the 400,000 harp seal allowance has remained steady since 2011, up from in 2010 and 280,000 in 2009.
article_snippet: However, despite the large hunting quotas, approximately 94,000 harp seals were killed during the commercial hunt in 2013.
article_snippet: The recent number of seals killed is a significant drop in numbers from the mid-to-late noughties with 218,000 harp seals killed in 2008, 355,000 in 2006 and a jaw-dropping 366,000 in 2004.
article_snippet: No change: Despite the hunting quotas for harp seals staying at 400,000, just 94,000 harp seals were killed during the hunt in 2013 .
article_snippet: The recent number of seals killed during the Canadian cull is a significant drop in numbers from the mid- to late noughties with 218,000 harp seals killed in 2008, 355,000 in 2006 and 366,000 in 2004 .
article_snippet: In a statement to MailOnline, a DFO spokesperson defended the high quotas saying 'decisions are informed by science.' 'The overall Atlantic seal population, including harp seals, grey seals and hooded seals is healthy and abundant.
article_snippet: Harp seals are currently estimated at approximately 7.4 million animals which is more than three times what it was in the 1970s. '
article_snippet: For example, the Atlantic grey seal population eats more than 1 million tonnes of fish each year.
highlights_snippet: The 2015 quota given to hunters by the government is 468,000 seals .
  