LIHU‘E — Law-enforcement officers with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement are investigating the death of a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal near Anahola Thursday.
LIHU‘E — Law-enforcement officers with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement are investigating the death of a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal near Anahola Thursday.
The cause of death is currently unknown.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact DOCARE at (808) 643-3567, or DLNRTip app available for iPhone and Android devices. People may also contact the NOAA OLE enforcement hotline at (800) 853-1964.
Killing a Hawaiian monk seal is both a federal and state crime with severe penalties, states the DLNR. Under Hawai‘i law, intentionally or knowingly killing a monk seal is a felony.
I was camping out at Aliomanu last weekend and had 2 monk seals sleeping on the beach near by. I called the “report a sighting” number and because of covid, they couldn’t send anyone out to cone off the area. We stood watch for 3 days as there were many local families in the area, fishing and what not. In that time we chased off a pack of UNLEASHED dogs, running through the area and attacking chickens, one running close to the sleeping seal. I tracked down the owner who happened to be smoking Ice in his truck down the road and gave him a piece of my mind. The next day I yelled at a bunch of local kids throwing rocks at the sleeping seal pup. Both NOAA and the seal reporting hotline were made aware of this, but could do little because of covid restrictions. If it is true that a loose dog killed this seal, then shame on you people that let your dogs run loose. And also shame on the bystanders that keep quiet and do nothing when they see this happening. I’m local and what I saw last weekend made me sick. People complain about tourists but the disrespect for the land and water I see on a regular is from locals, not tourists.
Tourists would pay good money on an “eco tour” to see monk seals in their “natural” habitat. What a true shame if such an angelic & endangered creature died at the hands of locals.
Mahalo, Ashley for sharing your insight. Local or not, this type of activity, especially by children, would make anyone sick.
Can’t blame this on the tourists! One of my best memories of tour guiding was at Aliomanu beach. I was taking pictures of a lovely couple from Australia standing at the beach when a huge seal hauled out right next to us! He was photobombing us. I was dancing a jig.
I was at Lydgate playing disc golf the other day where I watched from a distance one of the player’s dog chased aww down and killed a rooster. Chicken no big deal but the attitude they exhibited with their laughter was sickening and I yelled at them to leash the damn dog. They took off. They were not hauole boys either and old enough to know better. I see so much More trash at Lydgate since the pandemic. I said it once but SICKENING.