Following a complaint lodged by The Monachus Guardian (see Sealed with a Kiss? below), National Geographic has removed a recent picture story on its website featuring orphaned monk seal “Badem”, and National Geographic Fellow Enric Sala.
In reply to our email, Enric Sala stated: “I was shown your email today about this post on the Wild Blog site. When I read the post (which I did for the first time this morning) I was alarmed and asked for it to be removed immediately, which they did. I am well aware of the issues associated with rehabilitation of monk seals, and agree with your concerns… I apologize for any offense that this post may have caused you and our monk seal friends. I will work to make sure that this kind of mistake is not repeated.”