The Story of the Hawaiian Monk Seal

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• June 26, 2026

If you go to Hawaii, there is a great chance you’ll see all types of majestic wildlife, including the endangered monk seal. In my travels to Hawaii, I’ve seen many a monk seal. Usually you see them sun bathing on the shore, taking a break from swimming. They are big creatures, with a healthy amount of blubber and cute faces with big brown eyes. You do not want to get too close to them, as they can be aggressive (especially if they are in mating season or have a baby, like all animals) but even I have gotten within about fifteen feet of them for a picture, and they don’t seem to care if you are quiet, non-startling, don’t linger or get too close. They are pretty used to humans, or at least the chill humans who respect them. I’ve even been surfing when a monk seal invades the line up, surfs some waves with us surfers before going to relax on the shore.

Of course, a lot humans are assholes. Especially tourists who disrespect nature, which is aggravating to locals especially, but really anyone who loves wildlife.

If you’re not obsessed and in love with Hawaii like I am, you might have missed this recent news story regarding a monk seal and one of these awful tourists. A local got the whole thing on video. A man is watching a monk seal in the water and he grabs a coconut sized rock and wails it at the monk seal, which narrowly misses the seals head. Luckily, the seal is agile enough to dodge it, but like almost any animal (including humans) if it gets hit in the head with a large rock, it will likely die.

The woman filming is yelling at him to stop what he is doing. Not only is it wrong (which should be reason enough), it is illegal. I do not blame the woman for recording and not getting involved physically, because in general, I don’t think it’s a good idea for women to physically confront men because likely they will get hurt themselves. But she got the incident on camera and called the police. Like I said before, Hawaiians treat their wildlife like citizens. She did the right thing.

Before the cops arrived who did arrest him, either another bystander or a man (local) who a woman had told what the tourist had done, confronts the tourists and gets several punches on the man (this is also on film). Usually, I don’t condone violence, but in this case, I completely applaud with this reaction and that man deserved a beat down.

Authorities end up identifying the tourist as a man from Washington state who is a legal immigrant from the Ukraine. To my knowledge, the local who beat him up remains anonymous (no one was going to snitch on that hero). The case was brought to local court and even the judge basically laughed at the notion of any legal repercussions coming to the mystery man to beat up the tourist.

The tourist, naturally, hired a lawyer to defend himself against repercussions for intent to harm the lawfully protected monk seal. But, the lawyers defense (complete scumbag lawyer) is that his defendant saw the seal “attacking a turtle” and was trying to defend the sea turtle by throwing a rock at the seal. It is possible, but not likely, that a monk seal would attack a sea turtle. Sea turtles are not part of their diet, but they are playful creatures that could antagonize a seat turtle. But more likely, this is bull shit defense and I hope (along with every Hawaiian who I feel comfortable speaking for in this scenario) doesn’t get off easy.

This is a story I share to try to raise wildlife awareness in all places, but especially places as special as Hawaii. It is my belief that the people who genuinely love animals and nature heavily outnumber these fucking sociopathic jerks. When you travel, respect the locals of all species. It’s not that hard. Don’t try to hurt or kill animals unless they are literally attacking you or if they are most insects (fuck the bugs!). And if you see injustice, say something. And if you see someone hurting an innocent, if you’re strong enough, punch them a few times.