A Washington state tourist is facing federal charges after prosecutors alleged that a video showed him throwing a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal just off a Maui beach last week, prompting demands for prosecution in Hawaii and a condemnation that spread quickly after the footage surfaced. Federal prosecutors said the incident involved what the government described as a coconut-sized rock thrown directly at the seal, narrowly missing its head, and causing the animal to abruptly change its behavior, according to a criminal complaint.
According to federal prosecutors, Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area on Wednesday while special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said Lytvynchuk was charged with harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal, bringing the case to federal court rather than leaving it to state enforcement.
Lytvynchuk, who lives in Covington, Washington, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday, where a judge ordered him released pending another court appearance in Honolulu on May 27. Greg Geist, a federal public defender who represented Lytvynchuk at the hearing, said Lytvynchuk had hired an attorney in Hawaii, although the attorney’s name was not immediately listed in the case docket.
Geist declined to acknowledge questions from an Associated Press reporter and did not identify the Hawaii attorney, while two supporters who attended the hearing also declined to comment. The case drew attention and criticism as details of the alleged video spread, including public calls in Hawaii for federal prosecution after the incident.
Prosecutors described the investigation as starting with a state report of monk seal harassment in Lahaina, a community largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed a state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer a video depicting the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from shore, prosecutors said. In the criminal complaint, prosecutors said the man could be seen holding a large rock, aiming, and throwing it directly at the monk seal.
The complaint said the rock was described by a witness as the size of a coconut and “narrowly missed the seal’s head,” but it still caused the animal to abruptly alter its behavior. When the witness confronted Lytvynchuk, the complaint said he told the witness he did not care and was “rich” enough to pay any fines.
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the federal charges send a clear message that cruelty toward protected wildlife won’t be tolerated, and he identified the seal in public comments as “Lani,” describing the animal as a known and beloved character along Lahaina’s waterfront whose return after the wildfires brought healing and hope. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said in an email that it likely was not Lani because the seal lacked certain markings.
Lytvynchuk faces charges under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison for each charge and fines of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, according to federal prosecutors. Hawaiian monk seals are critically endangered, with about 1,600 remaining in the wild.
The AP reported that Kelleher covered the case from Honolulu, and Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu also contributed to the reporting.