Walruses and Humans

The walrus is still considered threatened as it breeds slowly and lives in a fragile habitat sensitive to pollution or overfishing.

According to the IUCN there is insufficient data to classify all the subspecies of Walrus. The popularion of Walrus is still large, but it is thought that two of the subspecies are in decline and that climate change is having a detrimental effect particularly for the Pacific subspecies. Therefore the official classification at present is Vulnerable.

The Inuit, indigenous people of the Canadian Arctic formerlly known as Eskimos, are still allowed to hunt walruses, as they have done for many hundreds of years. Walrus skins are used to make oil. The tusks are also used to make ornaments. As the Inuit now use high-powered rifles rather than traditional fishing lines to hunt walruses, their potential catch has been greatly increased.