![\"U-turn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/NHZD4IA3ZREO3F2DXYHJRDWBVU.jfif.jpeg\")
U-turn ahead! Once NOAA Fisheries and partners opened the carrier doors, RV96 turned around and eventually made her way down the beach towards the water.(NOAA Fisheries (Permit #24359))<\/p>\nHONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Hawaiian monk seal pup born on Kaimana Beach has been successfully relocated to a quieter shoreline, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u0100nela \u2018Auinal\u0101, also known as RV96, born in May, was officially weaned from her mother Kaiwi on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The pup was then relocated on Friday to an undisclosed beach by NOAA Fisheries, Hawaii Marine Animal Response and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.<\/p>\n
The city Department of Parks and Recreation reopened all of Kaimana Beach on Thursday.<\/p>\n
When \u2018\u0100nela first arrived at the undisclosed beach, NOAA said she took a few moments to get oriented before heading straight into the water to explore the new cove.<\/p>\n
U-turn ahead! Once NOAA Fisheries and partners opened the carrier doors, RV96 turned around and eventually made her way down the beach towards the water.(NOAA Fisheries (Permit #24359))<\/p>\n
NOAA said they also gave the pup a brief health check, a preventative vaccination and official flipper ID tags. A temporary satellite tag was attached to help track her movements and development over the coming months.<\/p>\n
She was named by Hawaii Marine Animal Rescue\u2019s community naming effort with Waikiki Elementary.<\/p>\n
Officials said Kaimana Beach is one of the busiest beaches on Oahu, and regular interaction with large crowds can be risky and even life-threatening for a newly weaned, impressionable seal.<\/p>\n
The quieter beach will help \u2018\u0100nela learn normal, wild behaviors that a young seal needs to survive, away from large crowds.<\/p>\n
NOAA added that while Kaiwi may return to Kaimana Beach in the future, both seals are now independent.<\/p>\n
If a monk seal is seen on a beach, the public is asked to give them at least 50 feet (15 meters) of space, or 150 feet if a seal pup is present with their mother.<\/p>\n
Seal and other marine sightings and injuries can be reported to NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline at (888) 256-9840.<\/p>\n
View more photos from NOAA here:<\/p>\n
Additional resources to help monk seals can be found here:<\/p>\n
Reporting all seal sightings, or injured or dead seals, to the NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline: (888) 256-9840Following\u00a0marine wildlife viewing guidelines<\/a>Fishing responsibly<\/a>\u00a0around monk sealsReporting\u00a0marine wildlife harassment<\/a>Hawaiian monk seal pup born at Kaimana Beach; public urged to keep distance<\/a>Monk seal pup born at Waikiki beach to be relocated<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Hawaiian monk seal pup born on Kaimana Beach has been successfully relocated to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-718719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}