Monk Seal Whiskers
RK52
responders for the Hawaiian Monk Seal. I had been a volunteer responder when we lived on Molokai. I needed to attend the Kauai group training because they have a few different situations that were not common on Molokai...ie, dealing with tourist in the monk seals face. So today I learned to set up a SPZ (seal protection zone) and how to deal with the public or maybe I should say the Monk Seal paparazzi! It was an interesting and insightful training and I am looking forward to being a responder again.
These shots were taken last sunday, while R and I were at a beach on the north shore. This seal is a two year old female known as RK52, who has recently molted(basically she shed all of her hair and a layer of skin) and decided she wanted to snooze on the beach.
a beautiful animal, all shiny and sporting a new gray coat
dozens of peeps now have photos of her to show folks "back home"
some got a little too close...
Here you see one of her identification tags, K52
Red Tag--means she was born in the Main Hawaiian Islands
The "K" denotes the year she was born--2011
The 52 is like her social security number
.
She enjoyed her nap on the beach....paparazzi and all.
***please note all of my photos were taken from an appropriate distance with a zoom lens***
Aloha,
Val
