Greek Police Have Started a Manhunt to Catch the Killer of a Cute Endangered Seal

Greek coast guard vessels are scouring the Aegean Islands this week interviewing potential witnesses and hunting for clues in the gruesome murder of Kostis, an endangered monk seal orphan who washed ashore the island of Alonnisos three years ago during a typhoon.

The Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (MOm) and Hellenic Coast Guard officials say that the adorable Kostis, who had become a mini-celebrity in Greece after being rescued by a local fisherman, was deliberately murdered with a metre-long harpoon off the coast of Alonnisos, part of the northern Sporades islands.

His body was found this weekend by the coast guard. Coast guard officials promised an investigation and dispatched ships to islands in the area to search for potential witnesses to the murder.

The manhunt was bolstered by a reward of euros 18,000 ($21,000) offered by MOm and other Greek conservation groups, who immediately opened investigations of their own.

“The coast guard alerted us and we immediately went there, and unfortunately confirmed that the animal was dead,” MOm President Panagiotis Dendrinos told Reuters.

Kostas had been pierced by a long harpoon of more than a metre in length which appeared to have been fired downwards, he said, possibly from on board a boat in what appears to have been an intentional attack.

“Everything points to this being done on purpose. The way the animal was hit, the weapon used,” he said.

“It is a terrible and sad event, it has greatly saddened and enraged us, and not only us, but also the majority of residents and visitors of Alonnisos island, who knew Kostis, this seal that hung around the port,” he said.

A Greek police official – familiar with but not directly involved in the case – told VICE World News on the condition of anonymity that annoyed fishermen or even drunk tourists were suspected.

“People are angry, he was an endangered species with a name,” said the cop. “It is known that the fishermen on the islands hate the seals because they steal from nets but these are endangered species and the fishermen are from old families who know the rules and understand how important the seals are to the tourists. So I suspect some drunk asshole tourists, but the coast guard knows their job, they’ll probably find a suspect.”

The Aegean Sea is one of just two places in the Mediterranean where the once ubiquitous seals still survive. The population of about 750 is limited to several remote islands that have been designated as game preserves, but in 2018 Kostis was washed ashore near Alonnisos during a cyclone that apparently left it an orphan. With wild monk seals unlikely to accept an orphan, the villagers of Alonnisos nursed the seal pup back to health and let it live in the village harbour, where it became a darling of tourists while eating lots of fish.