A man accused of throwing a rock at an endangered seal swimming off a beach in Hawaii has been arrested in Seattle, almost 3,000 miles away. Agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charged 38-year-old Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, a Washington state resident, with harassing a protected animal after witnesses in Lahaina, Maui, recorded footage of him allegedly throwing a large rock at the head of the seal, known as Lani, earlier this month. “In the cellphone video, a man can be seen holding the rock with one hand, aiming, and throwing it directly at the monk seal,” a criminal complaint reads. Witnesses described the rock, which only just missed the animal, as roughly the size of a coconut. When they confronted the man, he apparently said he “did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines.” One angry local reportedly attacked the tourist after the incident. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said any harassment of protected wildlife in the area would not be tolerated. “Lani is a reminder that humanity and the instinct to protect what is vulnerable are still values people can unite around,” he said.
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