Biologists were called to a beach in Kawela early Monday morning, just a few miles east of Kaunakakai. They found this 15 foot long whale struggling in the shallow water. The mammal is a deep ocean dweller and a beaching like this is rare.

After a long day in distress, the animal died and its carcass was flown to Honolulu on a Coast Guard C-130.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plan to conduct a necropsy to learn more about the strange death.

"It is hard to tell until we can access the animal and do a full investigation. It can be anything from human-made to man-made causes," said David Schofield of the NOAA Fisheries.

In the past, other whale beachings have raised suspicion over the Navy's sonar training.

The Rim of the Pacific war exercise has been underway in Hawaii waters over the last month, but all the ships were restricted in the type of sonar they could use.

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