Listed as an endangered species, researchers took this now year-old female Hawaiian monk seal from the wild as part of a plan to help increase their numbers in the wild. In part, the radical decline in numbers was due to a much higher ratio of males to females. During the breeding season, a male mounts the female from behind and bites the female's back for a better grip. However, with the skewed ratio there were cases of up to 5 males on one female at a time, leaving the female with fatal wounds. Research was designed to collect all underweight female pups from the areas of highest decline in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and bring them to Sea Life Park on Oahu to fatten them up for a year and then release them back in the wild. Due to an unknown source of eye infection that quickly spread throughout this batch of pups, temporarily blinding them and next leaving them with irritated and itchy eyes, they never made it back to the wild for fear of contaminating the wild population. Instead, individuals from this batch of about a dozen females were sent to various exhibition and animal theme parks. This species remains critically endangered.

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