Monk seal hospital begins vaccine trial for bird flu in pups

The endangered Hawaiian monk seal faces numerous threats — from entanglement in fishing lines to loss of habitat, shark predators, human disturbances, and diseases.

Now the seals face a viral threat — H5N1, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza — as it continues to circulate around the world, infecting tens of millions of birds and at least 48 different mammal species, including seals and sea lions.

The Marine Mammal Center of California is taking a proactive step by running a trial on the effectiveness of H5N1 vaccines on two monk seal pups at its specialized hospital in Kona.

An outbreak among the seals in Hawaii, said Sophie Whoriskey, TMMC’s associate director of Hawaii Conservation Medicine, would be absolutely “catastrophic.”

“It’s a really vulnerable population,” she said. “They’