Hawaii News Now: This Special Hospital Has Very Special Patients: Hawaii’s Endangered Monk Seals
- Species conservation
This Special Hospital Has Very Special Patients: Hawaii’s Endangered Monk Seals
Published by Hawaii News Now: September 29, 2021
On the west side of the Big Island, a special hospital operates with one main goal ― take care of an endangered species.
“We are the only hospital permitted in all of the main Hawaiian islands to be able to care for monk seals,” said Sophie Whoriskey, the hospital’s conservation veterinarian.
The facility is called Ke Kai Ola. In Hawaiian it means “the healing sea.”
The Marine Mammal Center in California opened it in 2014 to take care of severely malnourished and sick or injured Hawaiian monk seals.
Header image by Elena Graham © The Marine Mammal Center / NOAA permit #18786
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Sophie Whoriskey
Hawaiian Monk Seal