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Headlines – News – Articles
8th December, 2010
Orphaned Mediterranean monk seal Badem, released from summer captivity in November by her carers, SAD-AFAG, was soon sighted around the Datça Peninsula, according to various Turkish press reports. Although SAD-AFAG has stressed, and stressed again, the importance of avoiding contact with the rescued seal in order to help Badem lose her attachment to humans, curious onlookers continue to disturb and harass the animal.
In the latest case, police intervened to cordon off a boat on which Badem was resting, so that she could catch a few hours’ sleep.
Full Story and Gallery: Fok Badem polis yardımıyla dinlenebildi! CNN Türk.
11th November, 2010
Media Watch, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 11 November 2010
 Question: Whatever happened to KP2, the nearly blind Hawaiian monk seal that was moved from Molokai by federal marine officials after becoming too familiar with humans?
Answer: The monk seal KP2 was taken to the Waikiki Aquarium in October 2009 and stayed there for a couple of months before being flown to a marine mammal research facility at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
→ Continue reading Monk seal KP2 thriving at University of California facility
31st October, 2010
 Orphaned monk seal pup ‘Lazarus’, rescued during stormy weather off the Aegean island of Evia earlier this month, has died during rehabilitation, Greek NGO MOm has announced.
Despite intensive care at the organisation’s rehabilitation unit on Alonnisos, the pup did not respond to treatment. As has been the case with other exceptionally young monk seals brought into rehabilitation at the MOm unit, Lazarus (estimated to be around 10 days old when found) continued to lose weight despite regular, round-the-clock feedings.
Body temperature and glucose levels also remained unstable.
The pup, reports MOm, died on Monday 25 October, following a seizure. A necropsy will be performed in Athens in an effort to determine the precise cause of death.
MOm has appealed to the public to join efforts to save the critically-endangered Mediterranean monk seal, its survival threatened by habitat destruction, direct killing and overfishing.
13th October, 2010
 Greek monk seal research and protection NGO MOm, announced today that it had rescued an orphaned Mediterranean monk seal pup on the Aegean island of Evia on 8 October 2010.
The pup had been observed struggling in stormy seas and strong winds of 8 Beaufort before emerging onto Pili beach on Evia’s northern coast. Residents contacted the Port Police, who in turn alerted MOm, setting the rescue in operation.
According to MOm’s Rescue Coordinator, Marianna Psaradellis, the male pup, who has been named “Lazarus”, is approximately 10 days old, and is presumed to have been separated from its mother by the storm. Initial diagnosis on site found Lazarus to be suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and exhaustion.
→ Continue reading Orphaned monk seal pup rescued on Evia
12th September, 2010
 Team swimmer Marjorie Boor. © Marine Mammal Center The swim across the Maui Channel to raise funds for a dedicated rehabilitation unit for the critically-endangered Hawaiian monk seal has raised $18,130, according to Cheryl Reiss of the Marine Mammal Center.
The all-female team of six from the Center joined 52 other teams and 20 solo swimmers from around the world in a daring crossing of the Au Au channel, the MMC reported in a post-race statement. The channel is well known for dangers to swimmers such as swift currents, tiger sharks, and the Portuguese Man O’ War.
→ Continue reading Race raises $18,000 for monk seal rehab
27th August, 2010
Media Watch, PR Web, 26 August 2010
 On Saturday, September 4, 2010, team “Hawaiian Monk Seal” from The Marine Mammal Center will compete in the Maui Channel Swim to support the Center’s efforts to raise funds to build an urgently needed hospital for monk seals in Kona. The female swimmers will join 52 teams and 20 solo swimmers from around the world in a daring 10 mile crossing of the Au Au Channel from the beach at Lanai to Black Rock on the shores of Kaanapali. The channel is well known for dangers to swimmers such as swift currents, tiger sharks, and the Portuguese Man O’ War. The first Maui Channel Swim took place in 1972 and since then, it has grown to become the longest open water relay swim in the world. To help team “hawaiian Monk Seal” achieve their fundraising goal of $11K and save future populations of Hawaiian monk seals, go to: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/what-you-can-do/events/team-from-the-marine-mammal.html.
Full Story
2nd July, 2010
Editorial, The Monachus Guardian, June 2010
 It is hard to imagine anyone not being moved by the tragic tale of ‘Markos’ – the young Mediterranean monk seal who was brought into intensive care, struggling for life, but horribly mutilated by the bullet that shattered his jaw and nasal cavity.
Possibly it was a blessing in disguise that, despite the valiant attempts to save him, he ultimately succumbed to his injuries, for it seemed doubtful that he would ever swim, dive, or grace the Aegean again.
The killing of monk seals in Greece, according to national NGO MOm, is reaching “epidemic proportions”.
The organisation has recorded 15 deaths since January, 5 of which yielded conclusive evidence of deliberate killing. Another killing by gunfire was reported in Turkey on the Bodrum peninsula on 21 April. With other killings just as likely to go undetected along remote coastlines, the final death toll is anybody’s guess.
Full Story
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>.
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