PHOTOS: Malnourished Hawaiian monk seals arrive at Kona hospital

KONA, Hawaii (KGO) -- Four malnourished endangered Hawaiian monk seals are now getting the help they need after being rescued from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The NOAA transported the monk seals to the Marine Mammal Center's monk seal hospital, Ke Kai Ola, in Kona on Wednesday, where they will receive treatment.

Two of the new patients are pups that were weaned too early, the center says. They say one is a yearling and the other is an extremely underweight 5-year-old.

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There are currently about 1,300 Hawaiian monk seals in the wild -- their population has been on the decline for decades.

Since opening two years ago, the Marine Mammal Center's experts at Ke Kai Ola have successfully rehabbed and returned 15 monk seals to the wild -- more than 1 percent of the species' total population.

Learn more about Hawaiian monk seals here.

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