On Thursday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, along with their partners, successfully relocated the monk seal pup born at Kaimana Beach to a secluded beach on Oahu.
The female pup named Pa‘aki, also known as PO5, was born on May 1 at Oahu’s Kaimana Beach, a crowded spot at the edge of Waikiki. This was the fifth time a monk seal had given birth at the popular beach since 2017.
On June 9, mother seal Kaiwi, also known as RK96, weaned Pa‘aki.
NOAA Fisheries worked with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Marine Animal Response and NOAA Office of Law Enforcement to collect Pa‘aki on June 12, according to a news release.
The federal agency then transported Pa‘aki to their facility for an overnight stay in a large enclosure built for monk seals. The following day, NOAA applied flipper tags and a temporary satellite tag to monitor Pa‘aki.
Pa‘aki was designated RT96 as its permanent NOAA Fisheries ID. The pup also received a vaccination for morbillivirus, or phocine distemper. Finally, NOAA collected biomedical samples for its population health monitoring efforts for endangered Hawaiian monk seals.
Then, Pa‘aki was taken to a new beach. Once released, the pup headed straight for the water. For the safety of the pup, NOAA will not disclose the location of the new beach.
“The new location will allow Paʻaki to grow up wild, offering more frequent opportunities to engage with other seals than with people. This is important for the young pup’s development,” said NOAA in a news release.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.