Lawyer says tourist accused of hurling rock at Hawaiian monk seal has been doxed and threatened
HONOLULU (AP) — Defense attorney for a Washington state tourist accused of throwing a coconut-sized rock somewhere endangered Hawaiian monk seal He said his client was trying to protect sea turtles and has since been physically attacked, threatened and vilified.
Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on Wednesday on charges of molesting and attempting to molest a protected animal.
Earlier this month, a witness recorded video of himself throwing rocks at a Hawaiian monk seal on a Maui beach, prosecutors said. He later made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area when special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tried to arrest him, prosecutors said.
The video sparked widespread condemnation and calls for prosecution in Hawaii, including from the mayor of Maui. NOAA said scientists identified the seal as an adult male known as “R404.”
A state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in the community of Lahaina, which was decimated by an attack, according to prosecutors. Deadly forest fire in 2023. A witness showed the officer video of the seal swimming in shallow water, which a man watched from shore.
The video showed Lytvynchuk throwing a rock that one witness described as the size of a coconut directly at the seal, narrowly missing its head, prosecutors said in the criminal complaint.
When a witness confronted Lytvynchuk, he said he “didn’t care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fine,” according to the complaint.
Defense attorney Myles Breiner told the Associated Press that a man later “brutally attacked” Lytvynchuk. The lawyer said Lytvynchuk refused to report the attack to the police.
Breiner said his client had been to Hawaii before and was familiar with sea turtles, but not Hawaiian monk seals. The lawyer said Lytvynchuk was a fisherman and thought the seal was an aggressive sea lion.
“So his reaction was not to harm this monk seal, but to take it away from the turtles,” Breiner said.
Incident shows NOAA needs to do more to educate public about conservation Hawaiian monk sealsHawaii’s Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said in a statement.
Since the video emerged, Lytvynchuk has faced death threats and doxxing, including receiving a package of what appeared to be feces at his home, Breiner said.
He said his client was treated unfairly because he was a white foreigner. “The vast majority of attacks on seals and turtles are committed by local people,” he said.
Lytvynchuk is accused of violating the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. Only 1,600 remain in the wild.
If convicted, he faces up to a year in prison on 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.
