Today's news about the death of T15M aka Sharkbite made many of us stop and pay tribute in our own quiet way to this remarkable animal. DB and the Billands probably have spent the most time with him while he was on Oahu... and I know they were all hit hard with today's news. So to my friends I send you hugs of support.
When I got the call this morning, I knew this was a big loss to many.... The decision to put him down did not come easy... but the folks at NOAA and the veterinarians realized that the infection he had would for sure cause his death, the most humane thing for them to do was to put him to rest instead of having him suffer any longer. This is never an easy decision, and suffering the loss of one of our seals is always hard with a limited number of seals in existence.
To all the volunteers, and professionals that were involved in his care for the last couple of weeks.... I thank you and in behalf of all of us.... thank you for your dedication and giving the old boy the care he deserved.
I only spent brief moments with this amazing seal.... he is one of the elders in our seal population.... and despite his amazing survival skills, living his life with limitations there is an irony of having fish hook be the reason he had to die.... I am somewhat relieved he lived to be in seal life an old man.... He is part of a generation of seals that are responsible for the population growth on the main Hawaiian Islands.... so who knows which one of our cast of characters is actually his offspring. Good bye Sharkbite... make sure you let Chester know that we're still fighting the fight.
Here are some photos of Sharkbite from DB's archives
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He survived this .... of course he was much younger and stronger back then
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We had heard of this amazing seal when we first got started with the Monks. I got all the infomation from DB and went to Kaena Pt in 07 or 08...wanting to meet T15M. WE found three seals, snoozing together at Back Beach. A fight broke out,and one by one each seal would leave the area. And to our thrill, Sharkbite was one of em. He had begun to molt, our first seal we encountered, molting was our Sharkbite. He galumphed his way, low to the ground, and we were stunned to see his scars WOW! As soon as all three seals, oh the other seals were 2AW and 2 AU..we ran down to the beach and looked for molt. And we found a little over a tablespoon of molt...called Tracy and YES, she wanted it. Yippee!!
We mostly saw him at Kaena pt, tracks now and then, but in January he began to show up at White Plains and before that, at Ewa Beach. But come January of 2012Sharkbite was with us for 21 days at White Plains and we were thinking, WOW THIS IS SO COOL to have this incredible seal to show off to all the visitors that came to site. Sharkbite did his molt at Plains...after 21 days of keeping close guard with him, collecting his molt and then he left...back to Tracks where he nearly got run over by 4 x 4's, got hooked where Schofield came to de hook him. He went back to Plains many times after that.
But to our shock was found at 1706 Plains on May 7th, with a cable dangling from his left corner mouth, plus, more monofilament trailing passed his body on shore. Notified NOAA and the team came to rescue him. But unfortunately that dam hook wasnt visible, so NOAA caught him, took him to the Aquarium immediately. Rob and I were hopeful, he could be helped.
He hung on after surgery, gave one last fight for his life, and unfortunately had to be put down yesterday. Oh my gosh..how difficult it was to hear, Sharkbite died, he will no longer be out there to find ever again.
We had left Kermit who came up at 8am, we watched him till close to noon...were on our way to Maili to find more seals if any when David called with the news. I couldnt function after that...oh dam...how could this have happened???? This grand old seal died from the big four inch Ulua hook, he swallowed. My heart ached so bad.
At maili, saw a seal, got to site, sat there, gazing at the little seal..NOA R5FI..I broke down, wishing none of this crap happened. I said a Prayer, and I looked at NOA...so innocent, there before me, looking so handsome and YOUNG. He already had a three inch hooking, he tossed that hook himself some how..so he has a scar that shows the rip effect from pulling at the hook. Noa got tossed off his spot by huge waves, but he was found again, galumphing to another spot. I guess I spent one hour with Noa, saying my prayers and begging him, NEVER TAKE A HOOK AGAIN..PLEASE.
Thanks to all who tried to save our Elder Seal..god bless you all.
It is with a heavy heart, I bid Sharkbite, T15M a farewell..he will be missed. Kaena Pt, White Plains will never be the same...I pray fishermen will be more careful, when a seal is in the area they are fishing..Please..Please..look out for our seals that are left..
Guess Sharkbite ran out of lives...So long Sharkbite..you will never be forgotten, NEVER.
Love you...B and R.
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