Monk Seal Monday #201: RH38 Returns!

Earlier this summer, after RH38 was reported in the same area for three weeks and, then, logging for 8 days and showing difficulty moving on land, she was taken into care. After an extended stay at Ke Kai Ola, the Hawaiian Monk Seal Hospital, in Kona on the Island of Hawaii, RH38 has returned to Kauai. RH38 is a seven-year-old female who was born to the well-known RK30.

Upon release, a very healthy-looking RH38 made straight for the water.

Since RH38’s release on the east side, two days later, a seal matching her description was reportedly hauled out on the beach fronting 1 Hanalei Hotel.

For details on her care, here’s a press release issued by The Marine Mammal Center.

Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal Heads Home to Kauaʻi After Receiving Life-Saving Care at The Marine Mammal Center.

(Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i – November 21, 2023) – The Marine Mammal Center, the world’s largest marine mammal hospital, is happy to announce the successful release of Hawaiian monk seal RH38 back to Kauaʻi.

Since her rescue in June, the Center had been treating the adult female seal for a series of ailments including kidney stones, suspected pneumonia and a fractured upper left canine tooth at Ke Kai Ola, the Center’s Hawaiian monk seal hospital in Kailua-Kona. The successful rescue, treatment and release of RH38 was made possible thanks to the Center’s partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Kona Community Hospital and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

“We’re ecstatic to give an animal that’s so dear to our hearts, like RH38, another chance in the wild. Every seal matters for an endangered population,” says Dr. Sophie Whoriskey, Associate Director, Hawaiʻi Conservation Medicine at The Marine Mammal Center. “It was clear during her treatment that her tooth fracture, and the associated infection, was the primary cause of her inability to thrive in the wild and we’re confident this won’t impact her anymore.” 
 
During RH38’s nearly five months of treatment, a CT scan conducted in August by experts at Kona Community Hospital confirmed the severity of the tooth fracture and infection. 
 
The Center’s veterinary team performed additional diagnostics including full body radiographs (X-rays), extensive abdominal ultrasound exams and submitted a series of blood samples for diagnostic testing to check for signs of toxins or infectious disease. All tests came back negative.  

Animal care experts offered RH38 a hearty and calorie-rich diet of sustainably caught herring and she gained an impressive 100 pounds while in treatment.

A TIMELY RELEASE FOR A SEAL READY TO GO HOME
On November 13, experts at the Center noticed RH38 began to exhibit signs of significant behavioral stress that included the animal biting at its tail. While it’s not unusual for monk seals to display stress related behavior while in a rehabilitation setting, this seal’s stress behaviors were more severe.

Fortunately, RH38 had already passed a release exam and timing worked out so that the Center’s team and partners at NOAA and USCG were able to coordinate an immediate release in the best interest of her health. 
 
The next day, the Center’s team met with USCG crew members at Kona International Airport to help load RH38 ontoa C-130 aircraft for release back to Kauaʻi.
 
“This has truly been a monk seal ‘ohana (family) effort,” said Jamie Thomton, NOAA’s Kauaʻi Marine Wildlife Response Coordinator. “RH38’s homecoming was a collective effort, and we especially want to thank our Kauaʻi volunteers and community members. They’ve helped monitor RH38 over the years, and their reports earlier this year alerted us that something was wrong.  Our Kauaʻi team came together to rescue her, and with the partnership of the Center and U.S. Coast Guard, RH38 was successfully rehabilitated and released back to her Kauaʻi home.”
 
NOAA, the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resource, and the rest of the Kauaʻi monk seal ʻohana will continue to keep a watchful eye on RH38 as she gets back into her routines around the Garden Island.
 
RH38 was born in 2016 and was first admitted to Ke Kai Ola in 2017 for malnutrition and gastrointestinal parasites. She was released in good health and came back in 2019 with several health concerns, including severe traumatic myositis (muscle inflammation) that was diagnosed on CT scan, septicemic infection, kidney stones in both kidneys, urinary tract infection and presumed pneumonia. 
 
Since 2014, the Center has rehabilitated and released 45 monk seals, excluding RH38 who has been released three times. Most of these seals have been rescued from and returned to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as part of the Center’s partnership with NOAA Fisheries. Together, the Center works with NOAA to identify seals in need, rescue and rehabilitate them, and give them a second chance at life.
 
The Center’s partnership with NOAA Fisheries and other cooperating agencies is more important than ever to prevent this endangered species from becoming extinct.  

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Monk Seal Monday #200: Identifying Seals

There are numerous ways to identify individual seals. Scars are one way. So, too, natural bleach marks, like birthmarks, in which a spot of normally dark fur is much lighter in color. And, of course, authorized personnel often apply identification tags to the rear flippers of Hawaiian monk seals. Flipper tags are plastic rings with alphanumeric coding assigned to an individual. The tags are color coded to indicate the island where the seal was tagged while the letter used indicates the year. Being able to identify individual seals enables long-term monitoring of individuals.

Bleach marks are also applied to individual seals, too. 

As for bleaching, the preferred colorant of choice is, none other than, Lady Clairol. The bleach needs to be applied on dry fur and have about 10 minutes to set but longer is better. Thus, it usually works better when the seal is sleeping, but it can also be done when the seal is awake. That’s why some turn out so well, and others get smeared when the seal rolls and/or moves. Also, the wind, sand, a wave splash, etc can make the characters look blurry. In the main Hawaiian Islands (except for Niihau), the first digit is a letter followed by two numbers. For example, “V” for Kauai, “N” for Oahu, and “H” for Hawaii Island. For seals bleach-marked on Niihau and at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, seals do not receive a  designated letter but instead a 3 digit number.

The goal of the trained state and federal team on Kauai who apply bleach marks is, of course, not to disturb the seal. So, they’ll usually wait for the seal to fall into a deep sleep and approach quietly from downwind without throwing a shadow onto the seal. It also works best if the seal is alone, so another seal doesn’t somehow alert it.

Because reading the plastic tags on the rear flippers of a Hawaiian monk seal requires the use of a good pair of binoculars, the purpose of bleach marking is to provide an easy way to identify individual seals from a distance with the naked eye. But monk seals molt the top layer of fur every year and bleach marks fade, too, making annual return appointments with Lady Clairol a necessity. 

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Field Report: October 2023

The Kauai team logged 199 seal sightings this month (216 in Sept, 254 in Aug, 230 in July, 270 in June, 287 in May). This included 30 individually identified seals.

New:

·       One seal vaccinated this month, a new juvenile Niihau male.

Updates:

·       Adult female RH38 sent to KKO via USCG for diagnostics and care. The seal is stable and continues to receive medical care. 

·       Adult female RK28 was treated with antibiotics for moderately severe mobbing wounds on the lower back. The seal recovered and was sighted in good health this month. She was possibly pregnant, but the expected birthing date has passed. We suspect the seal will forego pupping this year. UPDATE: Seal molted this month and is thus not reproducing this year. The mobbing wounds have healed. 

·       Adult male R610 was body hooked. Staff trimmed away extensive trailing gear. We suspect the hooks have fallen out by now, but still need confirmation on his next sighting.

·       Adult female RL30 remains hooked. UPDATE: Seal sighted on 6/10, 7/16 and 10/2, still good body condition but hook remains. Capture and hook removal may be necessary in future.

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