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Monk Seal Latest News
3rd June, 2010
 Just published: the June 2010 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals.
This issue of The Monachus Guardian brings a special focus to the Mediterranean monk seals shot and dynamited in the Eastern Mediterranean since January. What is actually being done to eliminate the single most serious mortality threat confronting the species?
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:
Editorial: An epidemic of killings.
Hawaiian News: Seal numbers continue to dive…
Mediterranean News: Greece: Alarming numbers of dead seals… Mauritania: Record births at Cabo Blanco… Turkey: Monk seal deaths in the Turkish Aegean… New population size assessment study in the NE Mediterranean…
Cover Story: Markos’ Case: Trauma, treatment, and reflections, by Emily Joseph.
In Focus I: Monk seal killed by dynamite blast in the Aegean, by Anastasia Miliou.
In Focus II: Nefeli’s rehabilitation: methods, results, and challenges, by Emily Joseph.
Perspectives: The world’s two remaining monk seal species: how many different ways are there of being Critically Endangered? by Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara.
Research: Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, re-sighted along the Israeli coastline after more than half a century, by Aviad Scheinin, Oz Goffman, Mia Elasar and Dani Kerem…
Recent Publications.
The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library <http://www.monachus-guardian.org/library.htm>.
12th April, 2010
Press Watch, Hürriyet Daily News, April 12, 2010
 Badem, probably the most famous Mediterranean Monk Seal, is back in Turkey after taking herself on a tour of the Greek island of Rhodes during the winter months. [...]
The problem is that Badem is far too happy to be with humans and likes nothing better than to take a break by jumping into a dinghy for forty winks.
This all sounds very delightful, and sure enough, last month she was found in a dinghy near Marmaris, recuperating from her long swim from Rhodes back to Turkey where she likes to spend the summer months.
According to Zafer Kızılkaya, a representative of SAD/AFAG, “she was resting in a dinghy, but it seems some people took advantage of this, and we received reports that some people were kicking her and throwing stones at her. Unfortunately the attitude of many Turkish people is that, when they see an animal like Badem, they want to play with her, but really it’s more like torture. This is quite intolerable.”
→ Continue reading Mediterranean seal Badem chooses to avoid tourist season
30th January, 2010
 Badem on Rhodes Recently released from her temporary confinement in a specially-constructed pen in Gökova Bay, Turkey, orphaned seal Badem wasted little time swimming off to Greece [see New cage built for Badem]. Her first known port of call was the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes, and the popular port of Lindos.
Greek NGO MOm was alerted to the seal’s presence on 21 January 2010 by the Hydrobiological Station of Rhodes. Observers reported the animal displaying a range of unusual behaviours, including resting on small fishing boats in the harbour, and allowing people to pet it.
Following contact and information exchange with their Turkish counterparts SAD-AFAG (which undertook the rescue and rehabilitation of the orphaned seal in association with the SRRC of Pieterburen, the Netherlands), MOm dispatched its own experienced rescue staff to Rhodes in order to assess the situation, liaise with local bodies, and formulate a range of possible actions to deal with the ‘problem’ seal.
→ Continue reading Released again, Badem heads for Greece
8th January, 2010
Turkish daily Hürriyet has published a gallery of photos on Badem and her new temporary enclosure, funded by businessman Mustafa Koç.
The orphaned monk seal, whose interactions with swimmers and beachgoers have become a source of concern to conservationists, is due again for release. SAD-AFAG, the NGO caring for her, has expressed the hope that she will adapt to the wild, and show less interest in humans.
Hürriyet gallery
3rd January, 2010
Press Watch, Hürriyet Daily News, January 3, 2010
 The new cage built for 'Badem,' a Mediterranean seal, cost 75,000 Turkish Liras. DHA photo Badem, a Mediterranean seal that was found beached in Didim and had previously undergone many attempts at rehabilitation after being released into the wild in 2006 will now be kept in a special aquarium. The aquarium is in a bay in the popular resort town of Marmaris.
Businessman Mustafa Koç, Badem’s sponsor, had a special aquarium prepared for the seal that cost 75,000 Turkish Liras. In its new aquarium, Badem will get the chance to hunt live fish.
Zafer Kızılkaya, a member of the executive board of the Underwater Research Foundation, or URA, said the seal was very happy in its new aquarium and it would be released into the wild again soon, because it has grown into an adult and will need to mate. [...]
Full Story
23rd November, 2009
 Just published: the November 2009 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual electronic journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals. The site can be accessed at <http://www.monachus-guardian.org>
This issue features news and articles by some 30 authors from 13 countries from across the range of the genus, from Hawaii to Mauritania, Turkey to Spain, Madeira to Greece.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:
Guest Editorial: Monk seals and fisheries need attention, education and cooperation, by Trisha Kehaulani Watson.
International News: Quebec workshop builds Med-Pacific links, but will action ever follow?…
Hawaiian News: Short-lived freedom for KP2…
Mediterranean News: Greece: Orphaned, newborn monk seal rescued at Kefalonia… Madeira: Young seal chooses busy Funchal as home… Mauritania: Reaching the 50-pup mark at Cabo Blanco… Turkey: Monk seals monitored at Karaburun Peninsula…
Cover Story: Tracking Artemis: Making sense out of a young seal’s death, by Panagiotis Dendrinos & Emily Joseph.
In Focus I: Progressive re-colonization of monk seal resting and reproduction habitats as the result of strict protection, by Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Hamdi M’Barek, Moulaye Haye, Miguel Ángel Cedenilla, Mercedes Muñoz, Ana Maroto & Luis Mariano González.
In Focus II: Monk seal sightings in Italy move to the central Tyrrhenian sea, by Giulia Mo.
Perspectives I: Tackling the conflict between seals and fisheries in Greece: an end or a beginning? by Stella Adamantopoulou and Vangelis Paravas.
Perspectives II: Mallorca’s lone seal: the 2009 follow-up, by Antoni Font and Joan Mayol.
Letters to the Editor: Seals of Coincidence, by Professor Keith Ronald… and Mediterranean monk seal encounters – Dos and Don’ts, by Marianna Psaradellis…
Recent Publications.
The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library <http://www.monachus-guardian.org/library.htm>.
31st August, 2009
 Badem recaptured The Turkish media is reporting that runaway monk seal Badem has been recaptured by a team from SAD-AFAG, the Underwater Research Society – Mediterranean Seal Research Group, at Milas Ören in Gökova Bay. The orphaned seal had escaped her temporary captivity in a large, specially-constructed sea pen at a fish farm in Gökova Bay.
Despite repeated warnings, swimmers and beach-goers were again interacting with the seal, posing potentially serious dangers both to the swimmers themselves and to Badem. Experts have expressed concern that every human interaction that occurs delays the possibility of Badem losing her interest in humans and returning to the wild.
[mappress]
Further info
Fok Badem’in tatili kısa sürdü, Aksam, 28 August 2009.
23rd July, 2009
Following a complaint lodged by The Monachus Guardian (see Sealed with a Kiss? below), National Geographic has removed a recent picture story on its website featuring orphaned monk seal “Badem”, and National Geographic Fellow Enric Sala.
In reply to our email, Enric Sala stated: “I was shown your email today about this post on the Wild Blog site. When I read the post (which I did for the first time this morning) I was alarmed and asked for it to be removed immediately, which they did. I am well aware of the issues associated with rehabilitation of monk seals, and agree with your concerns… I apologize for any offense that this post may have caused you and our monk seal friends. I will work to make sure that this kind of mistake is not repeated.”
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