Monk seal Penelope drowns in gillnet

A Hawaiian monk seal that was born earlier this year at Turtle Bay on Oahu was found drowned in a gillnet Monday.

Conservation enforcement officers for the Department of Land and Natural Resources were called to a location near Rabbit Island, the islet east of Makapuu Point, said DLNR Director Peter Young.

"To say it is a disappointment is an extreme understatement," Young said. "This is why we want to further manage lay gillnets, because of the indiscriminate killing -- not only of fish, but endangered species like the monk seal."

The seal was positively identified as the same animal that was born in early June on the North Shore, Young said. The animal was nicknamed Penelope by volunteers who had assisted with keeping curious onlookers away from it while it was nursing from its mother, he said.

Wildlife officials relocated the seal to Rabbit Island after it weaned, in an attempt to help it find a more secluded area, Young said.

The seal's body was reported at 11 a.m. Monday near the Makai Research Pier at the Oceanic Institute, Young said.

It had been the first Hawaiian monk seal born on Oahu in eight years.

State and federal wildlife authorities will investigate the death, Young said.