HONOLULU (AP) — A woman from Louisiana who was honeymooning in Hawaii has been fined $500 after a social media video showed her touching an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, U.S. authorities said. A video posted on TikTok and other social media showed a woman touching the seal at a Kauai beach in June. There are an estimated 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 300 in the main Hawaiian Islands. Under state and federal laws, it’s a felony to touch or harass a Hawaiian monk seal. NOAA also fined another traveler $500 for touching a resting Hawaiian monk seal.

Source: thestar July 30, 2021 05:26 UTC