NOAA: Dead seal found on Kaua‘i

LIHU‘E — A dead monk seal was removed from an undisclosed beach on Kaua‘i on Sunday, according to David Schofield of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The 4-year-old young male seal was identified as I-19,” Schofield said. “There is an ongoing biological necropsy as well as a law enforcement investigation into the cause of the seal’s death.”

The fact that an enforcement investigation is underway could indicate that the circumstances surrounding the seal’s death are suspicious. Schofield said the seal was alive Saturday when he was seen as part of a seal count, and on Sunday, I-19 was removed from the beach — dead.

“We know how important the Hawaiian monk seal is to the people of Kaua‘i,” NOAA spokesperson Wende Goo said, “and we are asking for people with information on the death of the seal to call the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964.”

The NOAA Office of Law Enforcement is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Goo said.

Monk seals have a life span of up to 30 years, although they generally live to between 20 and 25 years, according to the Defenders of Wildlife Web site.

Hawaiian monk seals are known as the most primitive of living seals. They have streamlined bodies which make them good swimmers and have flipper-like front and back limbs. They can grow to up to seven or eight feet long and can weigh up to 600 pounds.

Hawaiian monk seals are listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act that requires the U.S. federal government to identify species threatened with extinction, identify habitat they need to survive, and protect both.

As of 2006, there were between 1,300 and 1,400 seals occurring in the Central Pacific, with most in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and a small breeding population inhabiting the main Hawaiian Islands.