Officials seek information on monk seal killing on Kauai

By Dan Nakaso
POSTED: 12:08 p.m. HST, Jan 04, 2012
LAST UPDATED: 12:40 p.m. HST, Jan 04, 2012

Federal and state officials are seeking information on who killed another endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Kauai Monday.

A necropsy is being performed today on the juvenile, male monk seal that was found with a "suspicious" object in its head, officials with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said today.

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"This was not how I hoped the New Year would start," DLNR chairman William Aila Jr. said today. "Monk seals are a vital part of Hawaii's marine ecosystems. The intentional killing of any monk seal is not only illegal, it is inexcusable environmentally and culturally."

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More than 200 monk seals are thought to exist in the main Hawaiian islands and the population is growing at about 4 percent each year, Aila said, leading to fishing competition between monk seals and humans.

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Killing a monk seal is just cold...