A rare deep diving whale rescued from a beach in Maui last month has died after spending two weeks at a dolphin and whale hospital on Hawaii’s Big Island, federal officials said on 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 (NOAA).
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.
CARED FOR
The coast guard flew the whale to Hilo from Maui so it could be cared for at the Hawaii Cetacean Rehabilitation Facility. The 3.5m, 800kg animal was found stranded at a Kihei beach on Aug. 16.
Scientists haven’t had a chance to study beaked whales very much because they’re frequently diving in deep waters hunting for squid.
Schofield said the whales spend only about 3 percent of their time at the surface.
Few beaked whales have survived more than a few days after being rescued from a stranding. The longest a beaked whale has lived after being rescued is four weeks, Schofield said.
“If you have a deep diving animal that’s coming in from far off shore, it’s spending a lot of time deteriorating. By the time we get it, it’s in really bad shape,” Schofield said.
Beaked whales have been known to be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of Navy active sonar than other whales.
Scientists are not sure why, but one theory is that sonar may startle the deep diving whales, causing them to surface too rapidly and suffer ear damage.
However, Schofield says there’s no sign this animal was affected by sonar.
CT SCAN
A hearing test conducted in Hilo showed the whale was hearing normally. Officials also plan to conduct a CT scan on the whale’s head to learn more.
The whale was the second animal taken to the marine mammal hospital at the University of Hawaii at Hilo since it opened in February.
Earlier this year, a striped dolphin died after just 18 hours at the facility. Veterinarians believe it suffered from an acute viral infection.
The facility takes care of sick or injured whales and dolphins that might otherwise have to be destroyed.
According to NOAA, there are an estimated 1,200 to 2,200 Blainville’s beaked whales in Hawaiian waters. The Northern Gulf of Mexico stock is about 100 animals.
There is no current estimate for the Western North Atlantic Stock. The species is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS