Marine officials have announced the release of three juvenile seals back into the wild after undergoing a successful rehabilitation program on Hawaiʻi Island.
Monk seals Ikaika, Leilehua and Alena were found extremely malnourished, less than a quarter of their desired weight, on different islands within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument last year.
According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they spent about 10 months at the Ke Kai Ola monk seal hospital growing three times in body weight before their release.
"In rehabilitation, they’re all housed together, and so they’re around each other a lot. And they’re in a different surrounding, being out on a beach. They haven’t been in a beach for months," said Brenda Becker, a biological science technician with NOAA.
Once the seals reached a healthy body weight and learned to feed on their own while at Ke Kai Ola, they were screened for diseases to avoid bringing pathogens to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
After clearance, the seals were released on Kuaihelani, also known as Midway Atoll, last month.
"It’s all new and they’re following each other. But also they’re all like, hey there’s a beach and then there’s water. Let's go to this big pool to swim in," Becker described.
Becker, along with two veterinarians from Ke Kai Ola and another vet tech with NOAA, accompanied the seals on their flight back home with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Together, they watched the three seals galumph back into the water for the first time since rehabilitation.
The endangered Hawaiian monk seal population has increased by about 2% a year over the past decade. Their population exceeded 1,500 for the first time in over two decades in 2021.
