Photo By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal | A U.S. Coast Guard MH-64 Dolphin helicopter transports a monk seal in efforts to...... read more read more
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FORD ISLAND, Hawaii – The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worked together to transport an endangered female monk seal to Kauai in an effort to release the animal back into the wild March 14.
This past January NOAA members were conducting research on Kauai and received information that a monk seal had been found injured on the island of Niihau. The NOAA crew members responded by evaluating the seal.
“At the time, she had eye damage,” said Charles Littman, NOAA fisheries scientist. “We treated the [seal] with antibiotics and gave the assessment that she would probably be able to recover from the injury and all should be good.”
About two weeks ago, the same seal was found again in even worse condition.
“The seal actually swam over to Kauai and held out on the beach, and since January, had obviously lost a fair amount of condition in the eye and it didn’t look to be resolving itself,” Littman said.
Michelle Barbieri, a NOAA veterinarian, made the call that the loss of health and the continued infection warranted more in-depth care.
“We brought her in and then started are general assessment and care,” Littman said. “We checked her for signs of disease by doing a full health screening. We checked to see if she had a pneumonia and complications besides the eye injury.”
Veterinary ophthalmologists assessed that the seal’s eye damage was very deep and that she should have her damaged eye removed.
By partnering with agencies such as the Honolulu Zoo, Sea Life Park and the Marine Mammal Center, NOAA members were able to put together a team of veterinarians able to conduct the surgery, so she could be released back into the wild.
“We gave her the minimal amount of time to make sure she was well and truly on the way to healing,” Littman said. “She was gaining weight, able to feed on her own and given a series of health tests to be able to be released. We luckily got her out as soon as possible.”
According to Littman, the key to releasing a wild animal is to minimize the length of time you hold it in captivity to reduce the chances of the animal becoming habituated to people.
After the seal was approved for release, the U.S. Coast Guard ensured the animal would be taken back to Port Allen located on Kauai as quickly and safely as possible by transporting the animal on an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter.
“This just really reduces the time that the animal is in a crate in a bumpy environment,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Harry Greene, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilot. “It cuts 45 minutes of drive time and takes out a 30 minute C-30 Hercules flight. We boil it down to about 45 minutes of airtime all together. It’s beneficial to the animal and everybody involved.”
The U.S. Coast Guard transported the seal to Kauai and from there she will be brought back to Nihauu where she was originally found.
“It’s a mission we’re able to do and accommodate,” Greene said. “We’ve done it before. Quite a normal day for us.”
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2014 19:32 |
| Story ID: | 122050 |
| Location: | FORD ISLAND, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, NOAA, Coast Guard return healed monk seal to wild, by TSgt Christopher Hubenthal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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