A tourist accused of hurling a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal claims he was trying to protect sea turtles, according to his attorney. Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, is scheduled to appear in court in Honolulu on Wednesday on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.
Earlier this month, a witness recorded a video that prosecutors say shows Lytvynchuk throwing a rock at a Hawaiian monk seal at a Maui beach. The incident drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui’s mayor, Richard Bissen. Scientists identified the seal as an adult male known as R404, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In a video statement, Mayor Bissen said the monk seal was “not just a seal to us … [but a] part of our ocean ‘ohana in Lahaina.” He added: “Many of our residents know her, watch over her and care deeply about her wellbeing. In fact, members of my team in Lahaina have been tracking and looking out for her for some time now.” Bissen called Lytvynchuk’s alleged behavior “unacceptable” and emphasized his responsibility to protect both people and wildlife.
According to prosecutors, a state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in Lahaina, a community largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed the officer a video of the seal swimming in shallow water when Lytvynchuk threw a rock, described as the size of a coconut, directly at the seal, narrowly missing its head. When confronted, Lytvynchuk allegedly said “he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines,” according to the criminal complaint.
Lytvynchuk’s attorney, Myles Breiner, told the Associated Press that his client was “brutally assaulted” after the incident but declined to file a police report. Breiner explained that Lytvynchuk, a fisher who had visited Hawaii before, was familiar with sea turtles but not Hawaiian monk seals. He thought the seal was an aggressive sea lion and threw the rock to scare it away from turtles. “So his response was not to hurt this monk seal, but to get it away from the turtles,” Breiner said.
The incident has prompted U.S. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii to call on NOAA to do more to educate the public about protecting Hawaiian monk seals. Since the video surfaced, Lytvynchuk has faced death threats and doxing, including receiving a package containing what appeared to be feces at his home. Breiner argued his client was being treated unfairly because he is a white outsider, noting that “the vast majority of attacks on monk seal and turtle are by locals.”
Hawaiian monk seals, known in ancient Hawaiian as “ʻīlio holo i ka uaua” (meaning “dog that runs in rough water”), are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. They typically hunt in waters between 60 and 300 feet deep for fish, octopus, and crustaceans. Hunted to the brink of extinction in the 19th century, they remain one of the world’s most critically endangered marine mammals, facing threats from habitat loss, coastal development, pollution, rising sea levels, entanglement in fishing gear, and diseases from inland water runoff.
Lytvynchuk is charged with violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison and fines up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
