00:00By now, we've all heard about the disturbing incident involving our beloved friend, Lani,
00:05the Hawaiian monk seal in Lahaina. Mahalo to everyone who reached out and expressed concern.
00:10Like many in our community, I was shocked by what happened. Lani is not just a seal to us,
00:16she is part of our ocean ohana in Lahaina. Many of our residents know her, watch over her,
00:21and care deeply about her well-being. In fact, members of my team in Lahaina have been tracking
00:27and looking out for her for some time now. I want to mahalo everyone who stepped in, protected her,
00:33and reported this unacceptable behavior. As mayor, I not only have a responsibility to protect the
00:39people of Maui County, but also the wildlife and animals that share these islands with us.
00:45Our connection to the ocean, the land, and the creatures that call Hawaii home is part of who we
00:50are. You've all seen the video of the monk seal that almost got hit by the rock from the tourists
00:55who threw it. If you didn't, here it is again. And we've all seen, or some of us have seen
01:00environmental
01:01activists, I like to call them, who took matters into his own hands to educate what might happen if
01:07you mess with our land or the animals. And our attorney over here wants to make it clear we don't
01:14condone violence. But we did make a letter of recommendation for Mr. Ambassador of Aloha.
01:22I know everybody's trying to keep him anonymous. And I do just want to say that from our caucus,
01:31you know, we see this all the time with people with a different type of mentality coming in and
01:35destroying our stuff, essentially, in this case animals. But we'd like at least the airline to play
01:42this type of video on all flights incoming. So people don't do this kind of stuff. I don't want to
01:48leave it on a negative note, but I did want to get that out. Mahalo.
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