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US agents arrest tourist after video shows a rock hurled at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal's head

The Independent·Jennifer Sinco Kelleher·18 days ago
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A tourist from Washington state is facing federal charges after a witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of him hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal just off a Maui beach last week. Special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arrested Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, in the Seattle area Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office in Honolulu said. Lytvynchuk, who lives in Covington, Washington, was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal. The video drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui's mayor. The court docket didn’t list an attorney for him, and a person who answered the phone at a number associated with Lytvynchuk declined to comment.…

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