HMMA Update on Benny's Hook

RE74 Benny showed up on Sunday afternoon 9/4 at Paradise Cove with a visible monofilament line coming out his mouth and wrapped around his rear flippers. After rolling around on the beach the string unwrapped itself from his rear flippers. NOAA was notified and deployed in the evening to do an assessment and remove much of the potential entanglement hazard. No hook was visible. The next day Benny left the beach before the NOAA team could reach the animal for a more thorough intervention. NOAA was deployed again two days later when Benny was again on the beach at Paradise Cove, this time with no line visible. Again he left before NOAA could arrive. What followed was 3 more days of daily searching all along the Ewa beaches, west side and both sides of Kaena Point to find Benny. Today in the afternoon, Benny was found at Maile Beach Park by HMMA volunteers and NOAA deployed. Benny was sedated and for approximately an hour was thoroughly x-ray’ed and no hook was visible. Benny was released and swam away a little after 1900.

 We’d like to thank NOAA for their large scale deployment of people and equipment over many days. A huge shout out goes out to all our great volunteers who pulled together as a team and organized a large scale, multiple day’s long search for Benny all along the Ewa coast, west side and both sides of Kaena Point for nearly 5 days. Great job team. You are inspiring! Stay safe Benny!