Posted on: Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Kaua'i seal pup moved from popular beach

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua‘i Bureau

PO'IPU, Kaua'i — The seal pup whose birth closed a large portion of the Kaua'i's most popular beach park for more than a month has been moved to an isolated part of the island.

The weaned seal, which was left by its mother late last week, was moved Saturday.

It was born July 22 on the sand spit between Po'ipu Beach Park's protected crescent and the neighboring Waiohai Beach. Coincidentally, Po'ipu Beach had just been named by "Dr. Beach" Stephen Leatherman as the best beach in the country for 2001.

Officials initially allowed people to swim off both beaches while keeping the central sand area cordoned off. But after the mother, who had given birth on the same beach a year earlier, bit a Mainland visitor swimming outside the off-limits zone, the beaches were closed to protect humans.

Once it was weaned, biologists with the National Marine Fisheries Service and a contract veterinarian put the 150-pound, 7-week-old pup in a cage and trucked it to another part of the island. Federal officials are not revealing where the seal's new location is to keep people from visiting the area.

The pup's sibling born at Po'ipu last year was also moved away and appears to be doing well, wildlife officials said.

The Po'ipu pup is one of up to eight pups born in the main Hawaiian Islands this year.

Hawaiian monk seals are an endangered species. There are between 1,300 and 1,400 left, most in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In recent years, increasing numbers have been found around the main islands.