ABOARD US COAST GUARD HC-130 HERCULES—A U.S. Coast Guard airplane rumbled down an airstrip on Hawaii’s Big Island, carrying hundreds of pounds of rare and precious cargo: seven endangered Hawaiian monk seals.
Federal officials found most of the young animals malnourished late last year in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the northernmost islands and atolls in the Hawaiian Islands chain.
In this Sept. 8, 2015 photo released by The Marine Mammal Center, Kilo, an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, rests after being rescued and admitted to the Marine Mammal Centers Big Island seal hospital in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Julie Steelman /The Marine Mammal Center via AP
