Monk seal gives birth at Kaimana Beach
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
Three Hawaiian monk seals were sunning themselves at Kaimana Beach today, two of which were a nursing calf and her baby.
A monk seal has given birth to a pup in Waikiki at Kaimana Beach, city officials said Monday in an advisory sent shortly after 5 p.m.
At 6 p.m. Monday, the monk seal pup was very active at the Diamond Head side of Kaimana Beach.
“NOAA Fisheries can confirm that the Hawaiian monk seal RK96, also known as Kaiwi, gave birth on Kaimana Beach late this afternoon,” the agency said in a statement Monday. “NOAA and partners are responding to the situation, and ask that the public please give mother and pup plenty of space and avoid disturbing them in order to ensure the mother remains with her pup, and the pup gets the nutrition it needs to develop properly.
“The public should also be aware that mother seals can be very protective of their young and are more likely to exhibit territorial behavior with a pup. For their safety and yours, please stay behind any fencing or signs and listen carefully to the instructions of officials on site.”
“After birth, monk seals can be very aggressive towards humans on land and in the ocean,” the city’s Emergency Services Department said in the advisory. “Use extreme caution while near any monk seal on land or in the ocean.”
A monk seal named Rocky gave birth to a pup named Kaimana at the same beach in the summer of 2017. At that time, Rocky nursed Kaimana for more than 40 days, with hundreds of onlookers visiting the beach to see the pair.
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Visitors must stay outside a safety perimeter and avoid going into the water when the mom is out swimming.
Approximately two dozen onlookers quietly watched Hawaiian monk seal Kaiwi and her pup rest on Kaimana Beach this morning from a distance.
Fencing has been erected on the Ewa side of the beach with signs posted to inform the public to keep their distance.
Volunteers of the Hawaii Marine Animal Response, a non-profit marine species conservation and response organization, are also there.
Michelle Stadt, 30, of Orange County, Calif. stood next to the fence as she watched Kaiwi and her pup in awe. “I think it’s so great,” she said of the volunteers at the beach and the fence erected to protect the seals.
This is believed to be the fourth pup of Kaiwi. In 2020, the Hawaiian monk seal gave birth to PO2 — affectionately known as Nohea — on the Kaiwi coastline. She has given birth to her two other pups on the same coastline.
Hawaiian monk seals are an endangered species with an estimated 1,400 seals in the wild, 1,100 of which are in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 300 in the main Hawaiian islands.
