A monk seal has been spotted brandishing a knife, highlighting the dangers of manmade waste entering our oceans, officials have said.
The pup, named Manu’iwa, was filmed with the orange knife between its teeth at the weekend on the coast of Hawaii's Big Island.
“There was real concern that the seal pup might swallow the knife,” an official from the country's Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, who filmed the incident, told the Honalulu Star Advertiser.
“It’s a reminder to all of us to properly dispose of our trash and not to leave it on Hawaii’s beaches or in the ocean.”
Staff from the Marine Mammal Centre at Kailua-Kona have been monitoring its health ever since it was weaned from its mother.
Experts say it is vital that young seals avoid human interaction in their adolescent phase.
The seal pup later dropped the knife and it was retrieved.
Hawaiian monk seals are an endangered species and - along with the Hawaiian hoary bat - one of only two mammals endemic to the islands.
