  We show how the length scale hierarchy, resulting from different interaction
strengths in an optically-trapped spin-1 sodium-23 Bose-Einstein condensate,
can lead to intriguing core deformations in singular topological defects. In
particular, a point defect can be unstable with respect to the formation of a
stable half-quantum vortex ring (an Alice ring), providing a realistic scheme
to use dissipation as a sophisticated state engineering tool. We compute the
threshold for stability of the point monopole, which is beyond the current
experimental regime.
