$10K Reward for Info on Molokai Monk Seal Deaths

Poacher Strike Force News Release

A $10,000 reward is offered in exchange for information on the person or persons responsible for the deaths of endangered Hawaiian monk seals on the island of Molokai.

Anyone who has information is urged to call the Poacher Strike Force tip line at 877-773-8477.

Most recently, two monk seals were found dead on the west end of Molokai on April 27, and post-mortem exam results indicated that both seals died as a result of human-inflicted trauma. There have been at least seven suspicious monk seal deaths on Molokai since 2009.

Hawaii’s native seals, numbering around 1,400 left in the wild, are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, as well as under state law.

Poacher Strike Force is a team of former police, wildlife investigators, military elite, and woodsmen committed to assisting local law enforcement with investigating wildlife-killing cases around the country, and this incident is a high priority to the investigators. Collaborating with Help Asheville Bears through a system of collecting tips and offering rewards, Poacher Strike Force investigators have been able to assist to local law enforcement agencies make arrests in wildlife-killing incidents. Earlier this year, the team awarded $10,000 to a tipster in West Virginia following a successful arrest in a bear poaching case.