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"The most recent wave of Hawaiian-monk-seal murders began on the island of Molokai in November 2011. An 8-year-old male seal was found slain on a secluded beach. A month later, the body of a female, not yet 2 years old, turned up in the same area. Then, in early January, a third victim was found on Kauai. The government tries to keep the details of such killings secret, though it is known that some monk seals have been beaten to death and some have been shot."
It's pretty gross, but I grew up with in Alaska, and among some of the kids in my school, there was a certain 'macho rite of passage' (unsure of how else to describe it) that involves killing protected seals. Sort of an initiation (again, unsure of what word to use). I'm not saying all kids who grow up in AK, just passing on a bad anecdote from my youth.
It's not unique to seals either - I do secondary work in conservation, and you would be amazed at how dealers will literally rape (and I use that word with its intended meaning) a certain area of a huge percentage of protected species. It happens with turtles and reptiles, and even spiders. Many local guides I work with in South America are hesitant to show even biologists where they can find certain rare animals - and I support that!
"The most recent wave of Hawaiian-monk-seal murders began on the island of Molokai in November 2011. An 8-year-old male seal was found slain on a secluded beach. A month later, the body of a female, not yet 2 years old, turned up in the same area. Then, in early January, a third victim was found on Kauai. The government tries to keep the details of such killings secret, though it is known that some monk seals have been beaten to death and some have been shot."
The reason people kill seals is simple and easy to understand.
Marine Mammals are heavily protected, so once they establish a toe-hold (or fin-hold) on an area, it is all-but-lost to human activity.
For example in SoCal, Seals will climb on a boat, crapping all over it, sometimes even sinking it, and the boat owner is prohibited by law from even trying to scare them off of his boat.
Once again, the law of unintended consequences invokes itself. Laws that were intended to protect them, are so one-sided, that they end up getting the seals killed to keep from losing use of the beach, or your boat, or whatever place they might potentially inhabit.
All of which further raises the issue of what makes a marine mammal more precious, than a land mammal, or marine fish.
As in all things, there has to be balance - a balanced diet, a balanced political environment, balanced "rights" between people and animals, balanced "protections" between marine mammals and marine non-mammals.
Sadly, it is too one-sided to the point where people will go to the extent of killing them to prevent losing the use of the beach etc., to them.
Trying to compare SoCal with Molokai is about two steps past hupo and well into pupule.
It has nothing to do with comparing So Cal and Molokai, but describing people, which are pretty much the world over, and their motivations, and the Federal Laws that govern the sitch.
The phenomenon is not limited to SoCal, it is nation-wide. Nobody wants a seal or a K-Rat on "their" land, or boat, for it is the kiss-of-death to the property.
In many part of the USA, Seals have lost all fear of humans and have become agressive towards them, especially surfers.
People are part of this world too, and have the same rights to exist, prosper and compete as other species. We are NOT aliens from another galaxy, but, dare I say, "native" to the planet.
The phenomenon is not limited to SoCal, it is nation-wide. Nobody wants a seal or a K-Rat on "their" land, or boat, for it is the kiss-of-death to the property.
Moved there in 1979 until, as I recall 1984, and several return stays.
Okay, perhaps "Nobody" was an overstatement, but instead of doing the small-mind nitpick, why don't you just grasp the fundamentall of what I am saying. Would YOU want a bunch of seals on YOUR beach? Because if you do, you can't do ANYTHING, legally, to interfere with them, If you walk close enought to cause them to flee, that is a Federal offense. No Interference allowed. It is the ultimate NIMBY thing.
Would you like a bunch of Seals on YOUR boat, crapping it up, tearing it up and there is NOTHING, I say again, and listen real hard, NOTHING you can do to get them off..
You really don't get it Jeffington. These are monk seals, ENDANGERED, AS IN, NOT MANY LEFT!!!
I'll answer on Jefferson's behalf.
It is wholly irrelevant if they are endagered or the beaches are over-run with them. As a marine mammal, they are protected, and once they are in an area, they own it.
Let's take a fer-instance.
Suppose you have a house right up close to the beach. You have a pool and a beach house.
Let's suppose a group of seals decides to waddle up to your pool and take up residence there. Guess what, while YOU still pay the taxes, THEY own it. You can't legally do anything to get them out. You can't even squirt them with a hose. If they enter your beach house, guess what. They own it. If they enter your house, they own it.
As far as the endagered species listing goes, it is pretty much a one-way list. Species get listed, but rarely get de-listed. So the fact that they are legallly endagered doesn't necessarily mean they are NOT MANY LEFT, but it is irrelevant to my point which is since they are Marine Mammals, you are at risk when they show up.
I am neither harming them, nor advocating that they be harmed, but merely explaining why people would want to kill them.
I'll give you another fer instance, and remember, these are FEDERAL laws that apply in HI.
In the Sacramento River Delta there is a fish called the Delta Smelt. It isn't even native to the area, but came in the bilges of a ship offloading in Stockton or thereabouts. It has taken over the Delta and, via legal actions by certain groups, stopped the pumping of irrigation water to the SJ Valley. Farmers are going out of business for lack or irrigation. Food isn't being grown because of a non-native smelt in the SR Delta. There are very real negative consequences to having such a creature in your area.
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