Dolphin repeatedly beached itself before being put down

A beached dolphin was euthanized yesterday after it repeatedly swam back to shore at Bellows Beach. The dolphin was first seen at 6:30 a-m by area residents. They tried to take the dolphin back into deeper water, but it kept swimming back to shore. Honolulu firefighters, Bellows Air Force Base security and conservation officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources also helped.

But officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to euthanized the dolphin. Marine biologist David Schofield says a necropsy will be done today to try to determine why the dolphin stranded itself. Schofield says some 20 to 25 dolphins and whales strand themselves in Hawaii every year.