Reward, seal program show how Kaua’i cares

auaians’ reputation for caring is shining through this week with

community-based efforts to catch a murderer and to protect Hawaiian monk

seals.A $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture and

conviction of whoever killed two women on the island’s west side was announced

Wednesday. It’s coordinated through Kaua’i County and was raised through

donations by businesses, organizations and individuals.

One way police are

investigating the killings is as a serial murder case, on the distinct

possibility that one person is responsible for both deaths as well as a brutal

attack on another woman who survived. There are similarities in the incidents.

Regardless of where the guilt belongs, there almost surely is someone who knows

something that will help authorities catch the killer or killers. If it takes a

reward and its accompanying publicity to pry that information loose, the money

will be worth every penny.

Meanwhile, on a more uplifting note, several

hotels and resorts have joined the Kaua’i Monk Seal Watch Program’s campaign to

educate the public on the best way to interact with the seals. That way

basically is to leave them alone – a tip that Hyatt Regency Kaua’i, Sheraton

Kaua’i Resort, Kiahuna Outrigger and Kiahuna Castle Resorts will share in

printed material distributed to their guests.

The all-volunteer seal

watchers hope more of the lodging industry on Kaua’i, as well as other tourist

businesses will join the effort. Not that visitors are being unnecessarily

singled out. Residents of the island also need to be reminded from time to time

that the seals are an endangered species and aren’t to be approached or

bothered. But the friendly advice is particularly suited to visitors who, by

not fully understanding the seals’ sensitive place in Kauai’s environment,

might inadvertently jeopardize the marine mammals’ delicate harmony with

humans.