A 30 tonne dead whale washes up on a remote beach, why is there always a big drama with local authorities? Why not just let it decompose and get eaten and washed away by the tide?

573 views

Another one today…and they are lifting it away to a landfill waste refuge site.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-56515194

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because 30 tons of rotting meat is a stench that travels for *miles*. It also tends to attract a lot of vermin and cause booms in the local rat population.

Anonymous 0 Comments

As few reasons, one is the smell and the second is that it breeds a bunch of bacteria that you may not want around. Some may pose a danger to humans.

There have been all sorts of different attempts at removing dead whales.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You generally do not want a giant carcass decomposing in a public area. Aside from the health risks involved with it, whales will often explode violently as the gasses build up inside them. This will blast giant chunks of rancid meat and guts a pretty significant distance. Again, not something you want on a public beach.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Whales continuously bloat as their skin is extremely thick and there is no method of release. This creates a serious health hazard as an exploding whale can injure people and animals alike.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Well I have limited experience. I was living on a beach on the Baja peninsula when what I think was a year old whale washed up on shore. Best guess was the local fishermen had been using illegal nets to catch endangered snapping turtles and the whale was colatteral damage. Anyway, a day or so, the smell was positively horrendous. Not to mention the mother offshore crying out all night.

We lasted a day then we left. I imagine an adult animal would be that much worse aside from the danger of it exploding.

Anonymous 0 Comments

A stranded whale can literally blow up at anytime. So it’s best to get it back where it belongs