Over the past several days, Deb Wickham has been the unofficial pinniped matriarch in West Hawaii. As the operations manager for Ke Kai Ola, she has been busily overseeing the vital rehabilitative care of two young, malnourished female Hawaiian monk seals.
These approximately 5-month-old premature monk seal pups were recently rescued from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers, who were on a 21-day research mission aboard the ship Oscar Elton Sette.
Thought to be severely underweight for their age and unlikely to survive on their own, the pair was admitted Sept. 18 to Ke Kai Ola, The Marine Mammal Center’s state-of-the art hospital that’s devoted to the rescue and care of this critically endangered species. The researchers named them Meleana and Pua Ena O Ke Kai based on their singing and fiery ways, Wickham said.
Of the 1,060 estimated Hawaiian monk seals alive, about 907 are found in the NWHI, a 1,200-mile archipelago of small islands and atolls. There, fewer than one in five monk seal pups survive their first year because of threats including marine debris, food chain changes and predation. Many weaned pups die before reaching maturity, mostly because of starvation. Exactly why these two monk seal pups, found on Kure Atoll and Laysan, were so emaciated is unknown, but one theory was that they may have been weaned too early, Wickham said. When taken aboard the NOAA ship, Meleana weighed just less than 40 pounds and Pua Ena O Ke Kai was 50 pounds. Typically, healthy pups their age should weigh at least 110 pounds, she added.
From the moment these at-risk monk seals were plucked from their beaches until they’re strong enough to survive in the wild, Ke Kai Ola’s veterinary staff and volunteers, under Wickham’s direction, have been nursing them back to health. They’re determined to give these rare marine mammals a new lease on life.
Meleana and Pua Ena O Ke Kai are the fifth and sixth patients of the hospital, which celebrated its grand opening Sept. 2. The $3.2 million facility treats sick, injured and orphaned monk seals from the NWHI region and the main Hawaiian Islands. There’s an emphasis on babies and females, with the idea that more female pups becoming breeding females will help preserve the species.
Four young, malnourished monk seals — Kulia, Ikaika, Halai and Makaala — were admitted here in July, treated and deemed healthy enough to return to NWHI. All four were successfully released this month, are being monitored with satellite tags and doing well, Wickham said.
These young survivors are around because of a partnership between The Marine Mammal Center and NOAA in Hawaii. The center relies on NOAA teams for quick-response air or sea transportation to Ke Kai Ola in North Kona, as well as for releases and monitoring of these solitary animals, Wickham said. The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority was chosen as the best place for Ke Kai Ola because of the ideal proximity to the airport and harbor, along with the access to “good, really clean deep-sea water” for its four pools.
According to a media release issued last week from NOAA, Meleana and Pua Ena O Kea Kai will be wintering at Ke Kai Ola before being returned to their NWHI homes next year.
Upon arrival, Meleana and Pua Ena O Ke Kai were weighed, given an electrolyte solution and subcutaneous fluids to treat their dehydration, as well as were treated with deworming medications in case parasites were contributing to their emaciation. Tapeworms were initially found in their feces, Wickham said.
While at Ke Kai Ola, monk seals are cared for under strict treatment regimes, which demanded limited visual and physical human contact — fish were thrown over screened pens, talking around the animals was severely limited, and herding boards were used to maneuver the seals safely and effectively, Wickham said.
“While they’re here and when they leave, we want them to exhibit appropriate behavior,” she said. “We make every effort possible to ensure that they don’t become habituated with people and are not fond of human spaces, including our cement pools. We want them to return home and thrive.”
Meleana and Pua Ena O Ke Kai are mostly kept together in the same pens so they’ll socialize with one another and to compete for food just as they would in the wild. However, Meleana, who is still weak, is put in a separate area at night to prevent her from constantly going in and out of the pool.
Meleana has remained “guarded” and “seriously fragile.” Because she’s a poor eater, anemic, and has difficulty keeping food down, the hospital has prescribed supplemental tube-feeding of mashed up fish, mostly herring, water and supplements, Wickham said.
Restraining and feeding wild animals like these monk seals can be challenging, and yes, their bites are worse than their barks, Wickham said while showing a recent bite on her finger as evidence. Fortunately, Wickham was wearing protective gloves at the time.
“Even those that look fragile, you have to be cautious around. You never know for sure which ones will snap, lunge or bite at the time,” she said “We always keep our guard up around them. The strict protective measures in place are for them as much as for us.”
Pua Ena O Ke Kai, on the other hand, is doing well and improving steadily. As of Monday morning, she weighed 60.6 pounds. These monk seals currently being fed three times a day. The goal is to feed young or emaciated pinniped the equivalent of 10 percent of their body weight in whole fish daily to ensure they’re getting adequate nutrition and are putting on weight. Once the animal is healthier, the amount of food is reduced to a maintenance diet, Wickham said.
“It’s a fine balancing and the formula for each monk seal receives varies depending on the age, body condition, specific medical problem and personality,” she said.
Eventually, the monk seals will be offered more live fish because it’s important that they’re able to forage for food on their own, though this skill is not a requirement for release. Tilapia has already been given as enrichment, which promotes them to perform their natural behaviors while also keeping them mentally and physically fit. So far, Meleana has shown that she can track, catch and eat tilapia on her own. Pua Ena O Ke Kai mostly just plays with the tilapia, Wickham said. Besides live food items, the monk seals are also given habitat items such as logs and coconuts, she added.
Wickham said visitors are welcome at Ke Kai Ola from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. However, the public is prohibited in areas where the monk seals are. Still, visitors can watch live footage of Meleana and Pua Ena O Ke Kai captured by the center’s cameras, as well as see other parts of the facility including the food-preparation area.
The center plans to eventually have outreach programs to educate the public about the seals and conservation efforts, encourage environmental stewardship, and introduce youth to careers in veterinary medicine and marine science.
For more information, call Wickham at 498-4078 or visit marinemammalcenter.org.