Media Watch, The Republic, 26 January 2012
Federal data show cutting Hawaiian monk seals free from fishing nets, moving vulnerable pups away from preying sharks and other efforts to rescue the animals are significantly helping the endangered species.
One-fifth of the roughly 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals in the world are alive today because of interventions to save them, their mother or their grandmother between 1994 and 2009, figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show.
The seal population is also about 30 percent larger today than it would have been if authorities didn’t act. [More]
Source: Feds: Hawaiian monk seal population is 30 percent higher today because of rescue efforts, The Republic, Audrey McAvoy/AP, 26 January 2012.