This Baby Seal Is a People Person, And That Makes Him Dangerous

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

This Baby Seal Is a People Person, And That Makes Him Dangerous
Hawaii's KP2 Made His Name Loving Humans, But His Ardor Is Getting Growing Pup Deported

By CHRIS HERRING
WSJ

KAUNAKAKAI, Hawaii -- For months now, a baby monk seal named KP2 has been the biggest celebrity on the island of Molokai. Since the animal arrived at Kaunakakai Wharf in February, several children from the island have made a habit of swimming with him. Area paddlers and boogie boarders have shared laughs watching him climb into or onto their boats and boards. One resident was so comfortable with KP2 that he put his golden retriever in the water with the seal and documented it in a YouTube video. But now that KP2 calls Molokai home, he is likely to be sent away any day now. That's because the 17-month-old pup is maturing. His weight, now 175 pounds, has more than doubled since spring, and he has begun playfully grabbing swimmers from behind with his flippers.

Seal experts worry that KP2 risks loving people to death. "We've had experiences before where a 300-pound animal is just looking to play and then starts holding people underwater for too long. And with how much KP2 likes being around people, we think he's bound to get to that point," says Wende Goo, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For safety's sake, NOAA officials are planning to have KP2 sent far from Molokai as early as this week. Some Molokai islanders, however, are determined to keep him. "If they ship KP2 off the island, it might get ugly here. There'd be an uproar," says Darrin Abell, owner of Paddlers' Inn restaurant, which is less than a mile from the seal's favorite hangout.

KP2's popularity in Molokai stems from the fact that he doesn't seem to know he's a seal. He has spent most of his life surrounded by people. His mother rejected him at birth, and oceanic specialists rescued him less than 24 hours after he was born. NOAA, along with the Marine Mammal Center, raised him for nearly eight months. Three months after he was released into the wild, KP2 swam to the southern shore of Molokai and started befriending wharf dwellers. He was welcomed into a community of 7,000 people where entertainment comes mostly from the sea. There are no movie theaters or shopping malls to serve as distractions. When NOAA first realized KP2 was playing with people at the wharf, the agency moved him 40 miles away. But just two days later, KP2 was at the wharf again.

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Already, there have been reports of KP2 playfully pulling people underwater for seconds at a time. Ingrid Toth, a small, white-haired 70-year-old woman, had been swimming with KP2 every day for about half an hour until a couple of weeks ago, when the monk seal held her under the water from behind for about five seconds. Ms. Toth says that, for a moment, she was frightened. "It made me think that one time, he may just keep me down there." Yet, Ms. Toth is one of the residents who is most adamant that KP2 should be allowed to stay on the island.

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NOAA plans to move KP2 about 200 miles away to just south of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The distance likely would be too far for the seal to swim back, but if he does, the federal agency will then put KP2 in an aquarium or sea park, neither of which Molokai has.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125296869822910133.html (subscription)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Awwwwww

He's cute. :-(

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2. And here is a video of the seal and the dog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT2X8jbez3o