Local and national nonprofit and non-governmental organizations are offering $50,000 for information about the killings of five Hawaiian seals, with the February suspicious death of seal R4DP near Eleele on Kauai making the matter even more urgent. ADVERTISING Local and
Local and national nonprofit and non-governmental organizations are offering $50,000 for information about the killings of five Hawaiian seals, with the February suspicious death of seal R4DP near Eleele on Kauai making the matter even more urgent.
Since 2011, these groups have offered $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people involved in the killing of Hawaiian monk seals.
These deaths are among 11 reported monk seal killings since 2009 that remain open and unsolved.
“We are deeply indebted to The Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Center for Biological Diversity, which once again have stepped forward to try and help solve the senseless and outrageous killings of one of Hawaii’s iconic, naturally and culturally important marine mammals,” DLNR Chair Suzanne Case said.
Hawaiian monk seals are endemic to Hawaii – a native species found nowhere else in the world. The species is critically endangered with an estimated 1,400 remaining in the wild.
Anyone with information about these deaths should call the NOAA OLE hotline at 1-800-853-1964 or the statewide DOCARE hotline at 1-855-DLNR-TIP or 643-DLNR (3567).
