10/20/2020 A Message from Dana Jones of HMSPO

Destroying Pono: What Happens When a Human Being Purposely Kills a Hawaiian Monk Seal?

1. Your deed causes a tsunami within your community, the ocean, the land. Therefore, you have upset the balance of life and nature.

2. Your sin of taking innocent life in such a violent way affects the community in which this animal learned to thrive. Violence begets violence. Your actions have brought violence to your friends, your Ohana, and your neighbors.

3. An endangered species has been struck down. A species that is an important part of keeping balance in the sea. The destruction of one life negatively impacts this species more than can ever be predicted.

4. The people have been deprived of a native Hawaiian treasure. The people and keiki will never again enjoy this special animal – as they are all unique and bring their own mana. These Hawaiian Monk Seals deserve to live a long life of peace, harmony, and co-existence in their native home.

5. The mother monk seal who carried this life for a year and nursed for months lost a contributor to her species. You, within a moment of violence, took her contribution away. The danger and commitment this momma seal went through was for naught. You killed her baby.

6. Wildlife conservationists and committed volunteers who spend hundreds of hours giving of themselves to the betterment of this species and these islands have lost a part of their hearts and a part of their Ohana.

In this time of turmoil and uncertainty, with families dealing with the pandemic, this violent action hits the people in the guts and in the hearts. May all the people find some peace and may pono be restored to the Aina.

To the person who committed this violence upon our Ohana, may you find some hope in your sad life. A hope that turns you into a better and kinder person to man and animal. We can all only pray that you learn to protect life instead of taking it. Restoring pono to your own troubled soul.

Mahalo to all the volunteers and people who look after these animals for years and with faith that each of us, in our own way, can contribute to saving this species.