MAçALAEA, Maui— A pygmy killer whale that stranded itself near Maçalaea Harbor on Friday morning was probably from a pod of whales that has been lingering off the north Kihei shoreline for more than a week, officials said.

The whale was rescued around 9:30 a.m. Friday and later taken to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary in Kihei for examination, said Wendee Goo, spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
People first responded to the whale in distress when it beached itself near the harbor, she said. They waded into the water and tried to push it out to sea. But it remained in the area, swimming in shallow water.
Goo said a blood sample taken from the whale showed a low white blood cell count.
"It indicates that whale has been sick for a long time," she said Friday afternoon.
Officials called in a Hawaiian cultural practitioner to bless the whale, but Goo had no other information.
The Rev. Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr., a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, was not called by officials. Maxwell went down to the marine sanctuary facility in Kihei anyway, joined other Native Hawaiian cultural experts and blessed the whale, he said.
Maxwell, who has fought for years to have stranded ocean animals returned back to the sea, said he told officials he wanted the whale to be returned to the ocean.
"It's an animal of the ocean. It's the representation of Kanaloa, the god of the ocean," he said.
Maxwell said officials told him that the whale could not be returned because it may have a disease.
Although officials believe the whale was from a pod lingering about 100 to 150 yards off the north Kihei coast for more than a week, they haven't been able to confirm that, Goo said.
She said that when officials arrived on the scene Friday morning the stranded whale was the only one seen in the area.
Last week, officials said a pod of pygmy killer whales lingering close to shore could signal that an animal is sick and preparing to strand or beach itself.
Pygmy killer whales are found primarily in deep waters. They are part of the dolphin group and can reach a length of 8 feet and weigh around 380 pounds. The whale has a small head with a rounded melon that extends from the front of its mouth. There is no discernible beak.
On Friday, witnesses said that the whale swam back and forth near the breakwall on the Lahaina side of Maalaea Harbor, getting as close as 5 feet from shore. Around 9:30 a.m., Maui County ocean safety officers and officials with the Marine Mammal Response Program put the whale on a sled pulled by a personal watercraft. Ocean safety officers then slowly pulled the whale into Maçalaea Harbor.
There, officials and bystanders held the whale in a sling and partially submerged it in the water at the harbor's boat ramp. The whale had its back covered with a blue towel.
Around 30 bystanders quietly watched as a veterinarian used a stethoscope to examine the whale while those who held the sling used their free hands to pour ocean water on the whale. A wound with blood could be seen near the whale's mouth while it wiggled in the sling.
Bystanders took photos but remained quiet as the whale could be heard breathing out of its blowhole.
At one point, Nicole Davis, Maui Marine Mammal Response Program coordinator, told the small crowd at the boat ramp to be "nice and quiet" and that they believe the whale was "not going to survive."
"It's so sad," one bystander said.
Others, who were visitors to Maui, were captivated by the rescue.
"This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime deal," said Texas resident Charlie Teamann, visiting Maui with his fiancee, Jennifer Atherton.
Teamann had his camera out, while Atherton sat alongside the boat ramp, intently watching veterinarian Gregg Levine and members of his staff examine the whale. Levine and his staff were flown in from Oçahu.
"You don't get to see this in the states," Teamann said.
British Columbia visitor Stuart Lee, his 4-year-old son, James, and wife, Michelle, walked over from a nearby restaurant at The Harbor Shops at Maçalaea to see the whale.
"I think it's very well coordinated," Stuart Lee said of the effort. "I have not seen a rescue before."
Maui News Staff Writer Matthew Thayer contributed to this report.