n
This recently molted baby monk seal (in background) was spotted at La'au Point according to the blog http://monksealmania.blogspot.com/2010/01/molokai-surprise-new-seal-identified.html
Baby monk seal found last week at La’au Point
The Surfrider Foundation has received a $10,000 pledge from an anonymous donor as a reward to find and indict the killers of endangered Hawaiian monk seals found dead last year on the Westside of Kauai and just last month outside the reef breakers near Kahinapohaku Fishpond on Molokai.
A total of $5,000 will be rewarded to anyone who has information which could lead to the arrest and conviction of the people involved in slaying the male monk seal discovered floating in the waters off Kaunakakai on December 14.
Some $7,000 will now be offered to those with information regarding the male seal discovered dead April 19 at Kaumakani, in addition to the $5,000 reward put up last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But with monk seal tragedy comes hope for this endangered species estimated to have a population of only 1,100 in Hawaii. Of those 1,100, only about 115 are traversing the main islands, according to NOAA officials.
Well, that number may have just increased by one. On January 12, a group that calls itself the Molokai Seal Team posted an online report saying that a new monk seal was discovered at La’au Point. He is a young, newly molted, very clean seal and has not been tagged yet. The new Molokai seal has been named Monk.
Filed under: News
