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?

Question

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

Answer 1

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.