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Seal killer pleads guilty, gets 90-day term

Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, September 26, 2009

LIHU’E, Kaua’i — A 78-year-old Kaua’i man who shot and killed a pregnant Hawaiian monk seal in May pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and began serving a 90-day term in the federal detention center on O’ahu.

Charles Vidinha “knew it was a Hawaiian monk seal at the time he fired his (Browning .22-caliber) rifle at her” on May 21 at Pila’a Beach, according to the plea agreement entered before Judge Barry M. Kurren yesterday. […]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Silverberg, who prosecuted the case, said because Vidinha had never had trouble with the law before and is “broke … living out of a car essentially homeless, a fine didn’t seem to be consistent with justice.”

Silvert said his research found other cases of people being sentenced to probation after unintentionally killing endangered species. […]

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Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Pregnant Monk Seal

Press Watch, KHON2, September 25, 2009

A 78-year old Kauai man accused of killing a pregnant endangered Hawaiian monk seal in May pled guilty in federal court Friday.

Court documents reveal Charles Vidinha used his browning 22-caliber rifle to fire four rounds at the seal at Pilia’a Beach on Kauai’s North Shore.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Vidinha will serve 90 days in jail, and he won’t have to pay a fine or restitution.

If the case had gone to trial, he would’ve faced up to one year in prison and a $50,000 dollar fine.

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Hawaiian Island to Evict Over-Friendly Seal

Press Watch, Newser, September 15, 2009

Scientists fear monk seal pup raised by people will harm his human playmates

A seal pup that loves human company is facing deportation to hundreds of miles away from his Hawaiian home, the Wall Street Journal reports. Baby monk seal KP2, who often swims with people and even climbs on boogie boards, has become a much-loved local celebrity on Molokai since he showed up in February but wildlife experts warn that as he grows bigger, he may end up accidentally killing somebody by playing too rough and holding them underwater.

The problem, experts say, is that KP2, who was hand-reared by humans after being rejected by his mother, doesn’t seem to realize that he’s a seal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to move him around 200 miles away, although he soon found his way back to Molokai after an earlier effort  to remove him, and many want him to stay. “If they take him away one more time and he comes back, I don’t think this community will let NOAA take him again,” says the head of a local center that teaches children about Hawaii’s ecology.

Further info

Hawaiian Island to Evict Over-Friendly Seal, Newser,  September 15 2009

This Baby Seal Is a People Person, And That Makes Him Dangerous, Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2009

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This Baby Seal Is a People Person, And That Makes Him Dangerous

Press Watch, The Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2009

Hawaii’s KP2 Made His Name Loving Humans, But His Ardor Is Getting Growing Pup Deported

KAUNAKAKAI, Hawaii — For months now, a baby monk seal named KP2 has been the biggest celebrity on the island of Molokai.

Since the animal arrived at Kaunakakai Wharf in February, several children from the island have made a habit of swimming with him. Area paddlers and boogie boarders have shared laughs watching him climb into or onto their boats and boards. One resident was so comfortable with KP2 that he put his golden retriever in the water with the seal and documented it in a YouTube video. […]

But now that KP2 calls Molokai home, he is likely to be sent away any day now. That’s because the 17-month-old pup is maturing. His weight, now 175 pounds, has more than doubled since spring, and he has begun playfully grabbing swimmers from behind with his flippers.

Seal experts worry that KP2 risks loving people to death. “We’ve had experiences before where a 300-pound animal is just looking to play and then starts holding people underwater for too long. And with how much KP2 likes being around people, we think he’s bound to get to that point,” says Wende Goo, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. […]

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Badem recaptured

Badem recaptured
Badem recaptured

The Turkish media is reporting that runaway monk seal Badem has been recaptured by a team from SAD-AFAG, the Underwater Research Society – Mediterranean Seal Research Group, at Milas Ören in Gökova Bay. The orphaned seal had escaped her temporary captivity in a large, specially-constructed sea pen at a fish farm in Gökova Bay.

Despite repeated warnings, swimmers and beach-goers were again interacting with the seal, posing potentially serious dangers both to the swimmers themselves and to Badem. Experts have expressed concern that every human interaction that occurs delays the possibility of Badem losing her interest in humans and returning to the wild.

Milas Ören

Milas Ören

Further info

Fok Badem’in tatili kısa sürdü, Aksam, 28 August 2009.

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Badem escapes summer confinement

From the Hürriyet photo gallery

Turkish media are reporting that Badem has escaped her temporary summer captivity in Gökova Bay and is again interacting with bathers and beach-goers along the busy coasts of Bodrum. Several bathers are reported to have sustained injuries, and monk seal conservation organisation SAD-AFAG has again been appealing to members of the public not to swim or interact with the seal — both for their own sake and for Badem’s.

Rescued in December 2006 as an orphaned pup, Badem underwent rehabilitation in Foça, with AFAG drawing on expertise and nursing skills provided by the Zeehondencrèche Lenie ‘t Hart of the Netherlands. Regrettably, the seal became imprinted on her human carers during the 5-month process, a condition later exacerbated by swimmers’ and beachgoers’ demands for contact with her. She was released in April 2007.

Further info:

Denizde Badem korkusu. Hürriyet, 26 Ağustos 2009.

Hürriyet photo gallery.

Badem undergoes veterinary treatment. 2009. The Monachus Guardian 12(1): June 2009. http://www.monachus-guardian.org/mguard23/2316mednew.htm#Turkey