Whale Carcass Dug Up from Australian Beach over Shark Fears
Local Editor
A massive humpback whale buried on a popular Australian beach after it washed up dead was being exhumed Monday because locals feared its rotting carcass was attracting sharks.
The 18-tonne animal came ashore entangled in fishing ropes last week at Nobbys Beach in holiday hotspot Port Macquarie on the New South Wales coast, 400 kilometers north of Sydney.
Authorities tried to drag the 12-meter whale back to sea, but gave up when it became caught on rocks.
With only a pedestrian pathway leading to the beach and no road access, the local council winched down a small digger to bury the dead creature.
But concerns that oil and decaying blubber were seeping into the ocean soon sparked a community backlash, with a spate of shark sightings close to shore ahead of school holidays, when beaches in the area are usually packed.
Under mounting pressure, the state government stepped in with enough cash to fund the removal of the decomposing animal.
A large crane was set up on the cliff edge Monday and mechanical excavators lowered to the sand, where they set about digging up the carcass and ripping it apart to be taken to a landfill site.
"We are using an excavator with big teeth on its bucket to actually cut the whale in pieces. It's quite a job," Port Macquarie council's environment director Matt Rogers told reporters.
"There are overseas experiences where whales have been taken off beaches... but nothing like we're seeing here with skip bins being winched up an escarpment, a crane reaching out 60 meters."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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