Tropical Zone Gardening: Hawaiian Monkseal., 1 by Braveheartsmom

Braveheartsmom wrote:
Yesterday morning we were down at La Perouse Bay waiting for the dolphin to come in and saw this rare Hawaiian Monkseal, a species that is critically endangered.

The Ranger told me that there are now only two places in the world that have Monkseals and they are the Mediteranean and the Hawaiian Isles. The population that was in the Caribbean went extinct last year.
The population in the Mediteranean is expected to go extinct within a present day 30 year old's lifetime, and the population in the Hawaiian Isles are expected to go extinct within a present day 15 year old's lifetime. That is if they can hang on that long. We number just over 100 animals in the Hawaiian islands with most being on the protected outer islands of the chain...5 animals are known to have be killed this year alone - two by gunshot in Hana, where they are seen as competition by the local fishermen.

It was a rare treat (maybe even once in a lifetime) to see this fellow swimming about in the Bay. The Ranger confirmed that he was a male and even read his number which is painted on his tummy....

The picture is not wonderful, we were not allowed to go within 500 feet of him and he hadn't hauled up on the beach to sunbathe. His weight was estimated at about 100 lbs and is a younger animal.