8/25/2010 Volunteers Come through for Ua Malie

Aloha and Mahalo to all the caring volunteers and the people that look after this feisty female today and every day of her young life. The "rescue" group was on site this AM and fortunately for Ua'Malie (now tagged T10/11) this turned into a somewhat normal tagging operation AFTER she finally came out of the water. Just a note to the volunteers, what we ALL thought was a hook in the eyebrow turned out to be sea cucumber goo. Yeeewww. The diligence in watching after her and seeing these things makes us all a bit crazy and these bits and pieces of sea life that do attach are sometimes just that.

The other hooks were real and she is just extremely lucky and good at losing those items.

SO, she did not end up having a hook in her eyebrow, and according to the x-rays taken at Turtle Bay, nothing in her tummy. This operation involved a team of scientists, vets, volunteers, and quite a bit of on site planning.

The unplanned event, when she took a nip out of one of the scientists. Our apologies go out to Eric for the love tap. HOWEVER, we are all quite proud that she is such a little fighter and can take of business pretty much on her own when it comes to people approaching her. What a relief to know that.

Many many thanks to everyone involved in today's rescue and to the many individuals that have helped this pup get to this point in life. I cannot tell you enough what an honor it is to work with each of you and I send you all warm hugs and Mahalo's for helping with this ongoing project.

Maybe we should rename her - Niho ilio - I can say that one.

--
Dana Jones
Volunteer Coordinator Oahu


Great Job Volunteers!   Wish I could have been there, but I know I couldn't contribute much with my bum leg. I knew we had plenty of dedicated volunteers there able to take care of it.... It does amaze me how quickly things change.... At one point planning the little weaner's tagging quickly turns into an emergency response based thinking she's been hooked....  The willingness and flexibility of our volunteers is amazing...  THANK YOU all... and I know many of you have been with this baby since week one....  now that's dedication! ~donna~