Federal prosecutors have charged a Washington state tourist with harassing an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a critically endangered species with only 1,600 individuals remaining in the wild, after a witness recorded video of him throwing a coconut-sized rock at the animal off a beach in Lahaina, Maui.
Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, made arrangements to surrender to special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Seattle area on Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday, and a judge ordered him released pending another court appearance in Honolulu scheduled for May 27.
Lytvynchuk is charged with harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
A Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources officer investigated a report of monk seal harassment in Lahaina — the community largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023 — last week. A witness showed the officer cellphone video of the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from the shore.
“In the cellphone video, the man can be seen holding a large rock with one hand, aiming, and throwing it directly at the monk seal,” prosecutors said in the criminal complaint. The rock, which a witness described as the size of a coconut, narrowly missed the seal’s head but caused the animal to “abruptly alter its behavior,” the complaint stated.
When a witness confronted the man after the incident, Lytvynchuk said “he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines,” according to the complaint.
The video drew widespread condemnation across Hawaii, including from Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, who said the charges send a clear message that cruelty toward protected wildlife will not be tolerated. Bissen identified the seal as “Lani,” a known figure along Lahaina’s waterfront whose return after the wildfires brought what the mayor described as “a sense of healing and hope during a difficult time.” However, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said in an email that the seal in question likely was not Lani, as it lacked certain markings.
“Humanity and the instinct to protect what is vulnerable are still values people can unite around,” Bissen said in an emailed statement. The mayor said he called the U.S. attorney in Honolulu to personally advocate for prosecution.
Greg Geist, a federal public defender who represented Lytvynchuk at the Seattle hearing, said Lytvynchuk had hired an attorney in Hawaii whose name was not immediately listed in the court docket. Geist declined to answer questions from an Associated Press reporter after the hearing or identify the attorney Lytvynchuk hired. Two supporters who attended the hearing declined to comment.
If convicted, Lytvynchuk faces a maximum of one year in prison for each charge. He also faces a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.