A minke whale carcass that washed on the shores of a private Plymouth, Massachusetts beach last month will now head to a landfill, wildlife officials said on Thursday.
‘The level of decomposition of this carcass would likely result in the whale breaking apart as it’s being pulled off the beach, spreading the problem rather than solving it,’ the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Northeast/Mid-Atlantic office wrote in an August 5 Facebook post.
‘For this particular case, due to the condition and smell of the carcass, we have been coordinating with [Homeowners Association] on how to bring it to the Bourne landfill.
‘As of Monday, the HOA was working on arranging the heavy equipment required to remove it.’
A minke whale carcass that washed on the shores of a Plymouth, Massachusetts beach last month will head to a landfill
NOAA said the whale was initially spotted bobbing up and down on July 17, approximately 1.4 miles off Manomet Point in Plymouth, Massachusetts
NOAA said the whale was initially spotted bobbing up and down on July 17, approximately 1.4 miles off Manomet Point.
The following day, the 21-foot male minke washed up on shore at the private beach and it has lain there since as there was a ‘lack of a disposal plan at the time.’
According to NBC Boston, a Plymouth resident said the smell was so bad it was ‘like death in a dumpster.’
Another local told the news outlet that it was more than just an aesthetic problem and that it was ‘interfering with our ability to enjoy our homes.’
The International Fund for Animal Welfare externally examined the carcass and determined it was likely killed by a ship’s propeller, NBC Boston reported.
Minke whales have experienced an unusual mortality event for the past four years, but the cause is unknown
NOAA explained in the post that documenting this whale helps the better understand the Unusual Mortality Event for minke whales that has gone on for the past four years.
In a separate post on its website, NOAA said the whales have been stranded up and down the Atlantic Ocean, from Maine to South Carolina since January 2017.
The cause is unknown, but full or partial necropsy examinations were performed on 60 percent of the whales.
Preliminary findings on several whales show evidence of human interaction or infectious disease, NOAA added.
