Swimmer, 60, charged by monk seal protecting her pup

Article content

Don’t mess with a mama monk seal and her baby.

A California elementary school teacher found out the hard way when she was swimming in Hawaii near the shore of Kaimana Beach on Sunday morning, reports PEOPLE magazine.

The 60-year-old woman suffered face, back, and arm cuts after a monk seal charged her when she innocently came between her and her baby in the water, according to KITV.

Hawaii News Now reported a witness as saying the mama seal seemed to briefly lose her pup before running into the female swimmer who hasn’t been publicly identified.

Once she found her pup, the mama seal charged the woman and pulled her under the water.

“So I guess that’s mother’s instinct to protect her pup,” witness Curt Otsuka told HNN. “Everybody was yelling ‘Careful! Careful! Get away!'”

Eventually, the woman was rescued by a someone on an outrigger canoe and two others who helped her to shore.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources was told by her husband that his wife had a swim cap on and her head was submerged in the water when people were yelling at her.

“She could not hear 50 or so people on the beach screaming for swimmers to get out of the water,” he told DLNR. “She then stands up and hears the people screaming and waving at her.”

The woman told DLNR that the incident shook up both her and her husband.

“Neither of us could sleep last night,” she told DLNR. “Every time I closed my eyes, I was seeing the mother seal’s mouth.”

DLNR said the woman, a self-proclaimed environmentalist and wildlife lover, did nothing to provoke the incident.