[ad_1]
Authorities said Tuesday that an endangered Hawaiian seal found dead on a beach in September was deliberately shot in the head in the third intentional seal killing on the same island in 2021.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the seventh seal was deliberately shot in the past decade on Molokai, a sparsely populated island northwest of Maui. Such killings are major blows for an important species with only about 1,400 surviving members.
The most recent victim, a young woman known to researchers as L11, was found dead on Molokai’s South Beach in September. The dead seal was discovered by a local dentist, Dr. It was reported to the authorities by Boki Chung.
Dr. Chung found the seal on a beach where he was walking his dogs. He later told a reporter that he was surprised to see a bruise around one of his eyes, suggesting that someone had attacked him.
“Why would anyone do that?” said, according to a report by news site Honolulu Civil Beat.
The state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources announced on Tuesday that the L11 died of “a gunshot wound to the head deliberately”. “It’s time for anyone with knowledge of the killing of this seal and others to come forward,” said department head Suzanne Case. said in a newsletter.
Two other Hawaiian seals that struck Molokai in April died of “blunt trauma”. According to NOAA. A total of 10 people have died this year, including two of reproductive complications, the agency said on Tuesday.
In other cases, the cause of death was inconclusive, as the carcasses were heavily decomposed or spilled into the sea.
Named after a thick fold of skin around its neck resembling a monk’s robe, the species is the only marine mammal found only in United States waters. According to the National Wildlife Federation. Adults typically measure over 6.6 feet and weigh 400 pounds to 600 pounds.
Hawaiian seals endangered seal or sea lion species In the United States, according to the Cetacean Center, a nonprofit organization in Sausalito, California.
The species is also the only seal to have evolved to live in the tropics, said John Henderson, a retired NOAA researcher. He said in his 2019 speech with a colleague posted on the agency’s website.
“Staying cold can often be just as difficult as staying warm,” she said.
estimated population Hawaiian seals It grew by about 1,400 and about 2 percent from 2013 to 2019, according to NOAA. Most live in remote Hawaiian islands, atolls, and herds. 1,200 nautical miles. Only about 300 people live on Hawaii’s eight main islands, including Molokai.
The leading causes of death in the population are: toxoplasmosisIt’s a disease caused by a parasite that sheds into marine environments through cat feces and gets trapped in fishing nets, according to NOAA.
Intentional killing is the biggest threat to population recovery in the main Hawaiian Islands, Angela Amlin, Hawaiian seal rescue coordinator at the agency’s Pacific islands fisheries office, said in a brief statement Tuesday.
NOAA said in September that the six seal deaths under investigation at the time in Molokai from 2021 represented an unprecedented number of deaths over a nine-month period.
“Many seals were found dead,” said an anonymous investigator from Hawaii conservation police in a video of a Molokai. field research It was uploaded by state officials in May. “I think the seals deserve better.”
[ad_2]
Source link