Necropsy Shows Beached Whale was in Good Health

There are new questions tonight surrounding a rare killer whale that beached itself Wednesday on Kauai.

The 18-foot mammal was removed from Brennecke's Beach after scientists made the decision to euthanize it saying it was just too sick to survive back in the water.

The necropsy showed it's a male, not a female, and that its organs were actually in pretty good health, which puzzles scientists since the whale had signs of sickness like exposed ribs and whale lice.

At this point, scientists say there is no smoking gun that says what was wrong. Over 700 pounds of tissue was shipped to Oahu and to labs across the country.

"It was surprising to us that most of the organs looked relatively good with the naked eyes, but of course there's microscopic work that can be done now and quite of bit of diagnostic screening that can be done to look for signs of infection and disease. So we'll have to wait and see," said Dr. Kristi West, assistant professor at HPU.

This was only the third killer whale to ever beach itself in Hawaii.

The HPU scientists say they should be able to tell exactly how old the whale is by examining it's teeth similar to the way you tell the age of a tree by the rings in its trunk.