Report reveals disturbing details in monk seal death involving state employee’s dogs

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Wildlife advocates are upset that a Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources employee is still on the job after her unleashed dogs allegedly killed a monk seal pup.
The sound of Luana, a female monk seal, in distress hours after the death of her pup on May 23 is still ingrained in the mind of environmentalist Carroll Cox.
On Wednesday, Cox and longtime monk seal advocate Melina Clark visited the spot where DLNR employee Lesley Macpherson’s dog allegedly attacked Luana’s pup, leading to the pup’s death.
The DLNR told us Tuesday Macpherson remains on the job.
“It’s egregiousness,” said Cox. “We are talking about a state agency in charge of protecting and regulating and it failed and one of its own personal actually caused the problem.”
In June, NOAA Fisheries fined Macpherson and dog owner James Armstrong Lyman a $20,000 civil penalty over the incident.
HNN has now obtained the NOAA Fisheries report detailing new information (scroll down to view the full report).
In the report, Macpherson states she left all four dogs outside her home near Mokuleia Beach around 5:30 p.m. to go to Hawaii Kai.
Macpherson says she got home around 1:30 a.m., eight hours later, and noticed only one of the dogs came to greet them.
Upon searching, she found the other three dogs — one of which had blood stains on its head — and nearby, the dead monk seal pup on the beach.
The timeline in the report also indicates Macpherson waited five hours to officially report the incident.
“We just want to see when something this so serious happens, the laws in place, the $50,000, the five years in jail, never happen and this is a murder,” said Clark.
Clark points out that the monk seal pup was a female, meaning her death translates to dozens of future monk seal babies that won’t be born.
She also is frustrated about information in the report that states Macpherson cut the umbilical cord of the baby pup earlier, something she said Macpherson had no right to do since she’s not a veterinarian.
The report also highlights a 2020 incident where Macpherson’s unleashed dogs were allegedly harassing a different monk seal.
Cox and Clark have collected and submitted more than 1,000 signatures calling for her firing, but they claim it’s been radio silence from state officials and are concerned that more monk seals are at risk.
“We haven’t heard back. We have no closure. We don’t know what’s going to happen when pup season comes in a few months,” said Clark.
In June, DLNR launched its own investigation into this case. At last check, a DLNR spokesman told us the case remains open.
HNN also tried to reach out to both Macpherson and Armstrong but have not heard back.

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