Going for a ride

U.S. COAST GUARD HELPS TRANSPORT
ENDANGERED HAWAIIAN MONK SEAL

HONOLULU -- Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Kukui transited last week from Kauai north into the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument with NOAA scientists and a rare Hawaiian monk seal aboard.

The seal was captured on Lanai by scientists and flown in a Coast Guard C-130 long-range aircraft to Oahu, where it was held for observation for a few days. The seal was then flown again on a C-130 from Oahu to Kauai, where it was loaded aboard the Kukui for transport to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

NOAA scientists said the seal was becoming too friendly with humans on Lanai and hope that releasing it in the uninhabited Monument will help it return to more "natural behavior patterns."

Here, the seal is loaded by Kukui crew members in Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009.

original release here