Removal Plan for the Whale Carcass at Lowers Officials are hoping to haul the 40-foot beast from the beach via land By Dashel Pierson

Published: April 26, 2016

April 26, 2016 Views: 3,710







Removal Plan for the Whale Carcass at Lowers Officials are hoping to haul the 40-foot beast from the beach via land.





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Related On Sunday afternoon, a 40-foot whale washed up at Lower Trestles. And now, CA State Park officials are tasked with figuring out what to do with it. Their plan of attack? A removal via land — as opposed to burying it or hauling it out to sea. Photo: Mike Parkyn

Meanwhile, another whale (or at least parts of one) washed ashore a few miles to the north at T-Street. Unlike the plan for the carcass at Lowers, San Clemente city officials buried the remains in the sand. Photo: Cole Houshmand

In case you’re wondering why State officials haven’t considered blowing up the whale, let this be your answer. Video: implosionworld



On Sunday afternoon, a 40-foot dead whale washed up on the beach at Lower Trestles.



And because of the whale’s hulking mass, coupled with safety concerns and the issue of baiting sharks, the question about removal began to boil. Many news outlets reported that the carcass would be hauled 10 miles out to sea. Others on social media suggested blowing it up, dispersing the remains in a cascading rain of whale entrails (see slideshow for an example). But nobody seemed to like the idea of submerging the body in the sand, especially since local lore blames sightings of great white sharks on a 1999 whale burial at San Onofre.



To settle the confusion surrounding the removal, Surfline contacted the California Department of Parks and Recreation to find out what was happening.



“We’re leaning more towards a land removal,” CA State Parks Supervisor Kevin Pearsall said. “We think this guy will just wash back on shore if we release him by water. But he’s so big that finding the machinery to haul him hasn’t been easy. We’re not rushing into this because we don’t want to make a mistake.”

"We are definitely not burying him, that’s for sure." - Kevin Pearsall



“There’s not enough beach to do that,” Pearsall said. “Of the three main options – burying, out to sea, or land removal – we are definitely not burying him, that’s for sure.”



But in an exceptionally ironic twist of fate, another whale (at least parts of one) washed onshore the same day only a few miles away. And those whale remains? They were buried. A Marine Safety Officer confirmed with Surfline that decaying whale intestines and possibly parts of a head washed up on Sunday at San Clemente Pier. Instead of removing the remains via land, like proposed with the whale at Lowers, city officials dug a hole in the sand and buried them near T-Street beach.



As for the whale at Lowers, the With 40 feet of bloated whale blubber, the large specimen has become a removal nightmare. Pearsall said uncooperative tides and weather have prohibited the water disposal and they don’t want the body to simply wash up again on another beach, becoming someone else’s problem. And for surfers worried about a repeat of the 1999 burial at San-O and the alleged increase in shark activity, there's a shred of solace. Lowers is too rocky to bury this one.“There’s not enough beach to do that,” Pearsall said. “Of the three main options – burying, out to sea, or land removal – we are definitely not burying him, that’s for sure.”But in an exceptionally ironic twist of fate, another whale (at least parts of one) washed onshore the same day only a few miles away. And those whale remains? They were buried. A Marine Safety Officer confirmed with Surfline that decaying whale intestines and possibly parts of a head washed up on Sunday at San Clemente Pier. Instead of removing the remains via land, like proposed with the whale at Lowers, city officials dug a hole in the sand and buried them near T-Street beach.As for the whale at Lowers, the Surfline cam shows it still stranded in the sand, the waves slapping against its rotting chest. Whether or not the heaping tons of blubber will be plopped on a truck-bed and paraded down the 405 to an obscure eco-friendly animal disposal facility will have to wait until the logistics are ironed out. But until then – and perhaps even longer due to lingering shark concerns – the lineup at Lowers will likely remain empty.

The lineup at the famed San Clemente surf spot became eerily empty – a rare sight for California’s notoriously crowded A-Frame peak, but justified by echoing fears of sharks possibly looking to feed on the carcass.If none of this sounds familiar, you can watch the beast gradually wash ashore on one of the stranger editions ever to be featured on Surfline’s Cam Rewind of the Day