Hawaiian monk seal returns to islands from Calif.

AIR STATION BARBERS POINT, Hawaii — A Hawaiian monk seal taken from Molokai after he was found to be nearly blind and interacting roughly with people returned to the islands Tuesday.

KP2 arrived on a Coast Guard flight from California, where he has spent the past two years at a university research lab. Scientists there were examining his eyes and studying his eating habits for research on monk seal metabolism.

The 205-pound seal, which was born on Kauai and briefly lived on Molokai, where he became famous for playing with people at Kaunakakai, will be under quarantine at the Waikiki Aquarium for four to six weeks.

He'll then move to his new home in the aquarium's monk seal pool where he will join one more seal on public display.

David Schofield, marine mammal response coordinator for the National Marines Fisheries Service, said KP2 would help people understand and support Hawaiian monk seals, which are at risk of becoming extinct.

"The population is declining at 4 percent per year, and this individual seal, who has again captured the hearts and minds of many people, will be a 'spokesseal' for its species," Schofield said.

Scientists at the University of California at Santa Cruz studied KP2's eyes to determine whether he would need cataract surgery to protect his eye from his diseased lens. But they determined KP2's eyes had stabilized and he didn't need an operation.

They also used the rare presence of a Hawaiian monk seal to learn more about how the critically endangered species eats, grows and how its metabolism changes with age.

KP2, who was given the name Hoailona in Molokai, has moved around a lot in the 3 1/2 years since he was born on Kauai.

When National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials first found KP2, he was trying to suckle on a rock after being abandoned by his mother on a remote part of Kauai's North Shore one day after he was born.

The same mother had abandoned another pup at the same location last year, and NOAA officials determined KP2 wouldn't be able to survive on its own.

With each individual considered vital to the survival to the species, NOAA officials took KP2 to Oahu where they nursed him to health, raised him, and prepared him to live independently. Then they released him to the wild when he was 7 months old.

The seal made his way to Kaunakakai on Molokai, where he began playing and swimming with people in the water.