PO'IPU, Kaua'i — A Hawaiian monk seal pup born Aug. 30 on the island's southern shore has been weaned by its mother and was moved yesterday to a remote, isolated Kaua'i beach.

The mother monk seal on Friday began spending long periods away from her pup on Po'ipu Beach, which marine mammal officials concluded was a sign she was weaning the pup.

The extended absences began about five weeks after the pup's birth on the sandy beach fronting the Kiahuna beach resort, said Mimi Olry, Kaua'i Marine Conservation Coordinator, who works for both the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That's about a normal weaning age for monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, although most seal mothers in the main Hawaiian Islands spend a few days more. The same mother seal weaned its 2004 pup at 36 days after birth — five weeks and a day. This seal was moved at the same age.

Volunteers have been staffing a tent near the seal and keeping curious humans away from the mother and pup — both to keep the young seal from becoming too comfortable around humans and to protect humans from being attacked by a protective mother seal.

Olry said the location to which the pup was moved will not be disclosed, in hopes of limiting human-seal interaction.