In March, after RH38 seemingly shrank to nothing more than a sad bag of bones, she was scooped up and flown to Ke Kai Ola on Hawaii Island. There, after days turned into weeks and a few tests turned into dozens, she was finally rolled into another hospital–the North Hawaii Community Hospital–for a full-body CT scan. It was the first CT scan performed on a wild Hawaiian monk seal. It was then veterinarians were finally able to turn this touch-and-go patient’s health around, and a couple weeks ago, she became the 28th patient of the monk seal hospital to be admitted and returned to the wild. (See more here.)
These are photos of RH38 on the day she was admitted to Ke Kai Ola.
When the three-and-a-half-year-old RH38 was released back on a remote Kauai beach, she looked like a completely different seal. She’d undergone a molt while she spent four-and-a-half months in rehabilitative care at Ke Kai Ola, so her coat looked like she’d taken a side visit to a monk seal spa while she was away from Kauai. She also gained weight. Lots of weight. She was released tipping the scales close to three times what she weighed when she was admitted to Ke Kai Ola.
Here’s a slide show of RH38 making her way to the water on the day of her release. Note her excellent body condition. You wouldn’t know she was the same seal–except her flipper tags prove it.
Since her release, RH38 has been exploring some of her favorite haunts. It’s as if she’d never left. Reports of her whereabouts have come in from the public, including one of some beachgoers approaching a little too close for RH38’s liking. Any time a wild animal spends time in rehab, one concern is whether she’ll show interest in humans upon her release. In RH38’s case, she hasn’t. And that’s a good thing. Maybe she got poked and prodded a little too much at Ke Kai Ola. But this is also a good reminder to encourage people to give monk seals–and all wild animals–plenty of space. When monk seals haul out on the beach, it’s for much needed rest, so when they return to the sea, they’re sharp and alert.
There’s another way biologists track RH38’s travels, and that’s by the satellite tag attached to her back, which is standard for monk seals released after care. (It’ll stay on until she next molts, if it doesn’t fall off sooner.) This allows biologists and veterinarians to keep a remote eye on her and evaluate her behavior. Here is a sample track of RH38’s recent whereabouts.
If you’re wondering about those red lines seemingly on land, RH38 has not evolved into a terrestrial seal. Those are poor quality fixes, typical of satellite tags with wide accuracy ranges. But you get the basic idea. The good news is RH38 has been ranging up and down the coastline in a way consistent with wild Hawaiian monk seals.
Lastly, here’s a video of her release and immediate beeline for the water.
Earlier this month, someone called the Kauai Hawaiian Monk Seal Hui hotline to report a green seal hauled out on the east side. It was R7AA. The next day, the same seal was reported “very green” and with a “transmitter.” (You may recall R7AA was flipper-tagged in September and outfitted with a dive recorder. That was the “transmitter” on her back.) But this report also included “something hanging from the seal’s mouth.” Kindly, the caller sent photos. Shortly thereafter, the dispatcher with the Kauai Police Department also received a call and report of a hooked seal. More photos were submitted. While no hook was seen in any of the photos, our Kauai team immediately responded.
What they found was, indeed, a very green seal sporting a transmitter. And no hook. But she did have gouges to both her upper and lower lips and a flap of skin hanging from the right side of her mouth and was given a antibiotic injection by way of a pole syringe.
That was last weekend. In the week since, R7AA has been sighted on three more occasions. The skin flap is gone. Her wound is healing. And she’s just started to molt around her flippers.
Kaua'i Seals 