Rare whale rescued off Maui dies after 2 weeks
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A rare deep diving whale rescued from a Maui beach earlier this month has died after spending two weeks at a dolphin and whale hospital on Hawaii's Big Island, federal officials said Monday. A necropsy showed the male Blainville's beaked whale had moderate pneumonia, a severe gastrointestinal problem, and kidney disease, said David Schofield, a marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Each of these diseases could have killed the animal, Schofield said. It's not clear how the whale contracted the illnesses, though a viral infection is one possibility. "We're sending tissues out for analysis to learn why it perished so quickly," Schofield told reporters. (AP)
