Let sleeping seals lie.
A Redditor on r/Hawaii reminded tourists that while the wildlife is beautiful to look at, it should be done from a safe distance.
“The wildlife is beautiful in Hawaiʻi, but make sure to give them some space! A general rule of thumb is to keep a minimum of 10-15 feet of space from any animal life you encounter. Don’t do what these guys did,” they wrote.
The reposted photo shows a tourist family photo taking place just feet from a sleeping seal. Even after being warned to “move away from [the] protected seal,” the family continued to take pictures.
The Hawaiian monk seal is adorable, but it’s also “one of the most endangered seal species in the world,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Human-seal interactions like these are one of the reasons the seal is endangered, along with habitat loss, marine debris entanglement, and disease. Human-seal interactions, like feeding, petting, or waking a seal, “presents a serious human safety concern, as mother seals are protective and aggressive. Human-seal interactions pose both a threat to human and seal safety,” per NOAA.
These seals weigh hundreds of pounds and can (and will) bite. That’s why NOAA recommends staying at least 50 feet away from monk seals and 150 feet from mother monk seals.
Tourons are ignorant, entitled, and careless, and while one should not be shamed for being ignorant of rules, customs, or best practices, it’s additionally problematic in cases like this when tourists often fail to listen.
This happens often in Hawaiʻi. In another case, a group of tourists ignored signs in Mānoa Falls, Oahu, to swim in a waterfall. Tourists too often disrupt wildlife, trespass, and leave behind extraordinary amounts of litter. Not only is this kind of behavior disrespectful to the people who live there, but many of these actions can be dangerous for themselves, others, and wildlife, particularly if approaching an animal like a seal without knowing whether it’s carrying a disease that could make it prone to biting, as happened to a boy last year with a sea lion in California.
Redditors were frustrated with the family, with one commenter calling it “infuriating.”
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“This is seriously so exhausting,” another user said. “I saw a post here asking about how Hawaiʻi is marketed to tourists… it’s obvious by these reactions that many tourists feel entitled to any and everything here, regardless of rules, laws, or regulations.”
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