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Posted: Friday, April 27th, 2012 8:46 AM HST
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$40,000 reward for info on suspicious monk seal deaths
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Public Invited to Call Reward Tip Line at 1-855-DLNR-TIP
The Department of Land and Natural Resources and NOAA Fisheries announced this week that a three-year old male monk seal was found dead Sunday on a northeast Kauai beach. The death has been classified as “suspicious.” The DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and NOAA Office of Law Enforcement are investigating the case. It is the latest in a number of suspicious monk seal deaths that began in November 2011 on Molokai.
Spurred on by the recent deaths of Hawaiian monk seals including a 3-year old monk seal that was found dead on Kauai this past Sunday, community groups have rallied in to increase education about the plight of the Hawaiian monk seal, Hawaii’s official state marine mammal, and to help promote co-existence with this critical endangered species in Hawaiian waters.
A coalition of nonprofit organizations, identified as the Aloha Kanaloa Coalition, recently developed a public service announcement to help promote their message of nonviolence and co-existence. “Traditional Hawaiian values taught us the importance of sharing and living together sustainability; we simply want people to remember and embrace our traditional values when it comes to how we treat and behave towards the monk seals,” explained Trisha Kehaulani Watson, a member of the Coalition.
DLNR supports this group’s efforts. “Monk seals are a vital part of Hawaii’s marine and cultural environment,” said William J. Aila, Jr., DLNR chairperson. “We must all come together to share the message that harm to seals is unacceptable and that humans and seals must learn to co-exist peacefully together. Only then can there be hope for the future of the monk seal, including a new pup just born this week on Kauai. That message is featured in a new public service announcement now being aired on local television stations and online at http://www.alohakanaloacoalition.org/
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust announced continued support of the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement’s work to combat poaching and designated wildlife-related crimes by sponsoring a toll-free, confidential reward tip line, 1-855-DLNR-TIP.
The tip line allows individuals statewide to confidentially report information about poaching crimes to law enforcement.
The first case under the new reward program and tip line was announced in January and involved three monk seal deaths on Molokai. A fourth monk seal was later found dead on Kauai. Necropsies performed on three of the four seals confirmed the deaths were suspicious. These cases, along with the newest reported death on Kauai, remain under investigation. Anyone with information about these cases is asked to call the confidential reward tip line.
The HSUS, Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Center for Biological Diversity have again posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the monk seal deaths. Earlier standing contributions from these groups, the Marine Conservation Institute and a generous anonymous local donor bring the reward total from $30,000 to $40,000, or $10,000 per confirmed incident.
“We thank the HSUS for their continued sponsorship of this program, which helps protect Hawaii’s precious wildlife,” said Randy Awo, DOCARE chief.
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