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The Town of Cambridge, home of Perth's popular City Beach, will have to foot the bill for the heavy machinery and labour needed to take the whale carcass to landfill.
Experts say this is how it should, and shouldn't, be done. One method officials probably won't consider was put into practice a few decades ago in the town of Florence in the US state of Oregon.
About 20 cases of dynamite, or 450 kilograms' worth, was used to dispose of a much smaller whale carcass, with predictable results. Chunks of blubber flew into the air, and a car parked almost half a kilometre away was caved in by falling debris. Granted, it was the 1970s, and the world learned a lot from that one experience, namely, don't blow up whale carcasses.
The prevailing wisdom is to tow carcasses back out to sea or carry them to the dump, according to University of Western Australia marine biologist Kate Sprogis. ABC News: Cason Ho"If it's a big swell, big weather, big wind, and they can't get a boat out or a large enough boat to tow it, then landfill might be an option," Dr Sprogis said. Town of Cambridge Mayor Gary Mack said he has been warned.
In 2014, it cost $188,000 to clean up a whale carcass on Scarborough Beach. Then-mayor Giovanni Italiano convinced the state government to pay half. But typically, the local council foots the bill, and the longer it takes to get rid of the mess, the longer the beach needs to stay closed.
"Any sort of large animal like that, full of blubber, is really attractive for sharks," Dr Sprogis said. The lone whale carcass on City Beach's shores isn't an unexpected occurrence, according to Dr Sprogis, who said the months of September and October are typically a time of migration for humpback whales.
Dr Sprogis said a necropsy is typically required to determine the cause of death, but if there aren't obvious signs of trauma on the carcass, the whale could have died from natural causes.
"If there's, say, a big wind, say a westerly wind, it might push the animals onto the shore if they're floating. "But Dr Sprogis warned that decomposition was a problem. "As soon as it starts decomposing and breaking down, that's when the number of samples is reduced, because a lot of analysis in the lab can only be done with fresh samples," she said.
The dead whale, which has drawn hundreds of onlookers over the past two days, is expected to be removed from the beach this morning.
Wa Whale Carcass City Beach Whale City Beach Dead Whale Dead Whale At Perth Beach Perth Whale Town Of Cambridge
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