A dead adult gray whale that was seen floating in San Onofre State Beach at California, United States, a few days ago, was buried on Friday.
State officials debated the ‘best’ possible way to dispose of the 27,000-kilogram mammal while it was sundried on the California beach for nearly a week, according to Huffington Post.
READ: Onlookers marvel at size of dead whale in California
The mammal’s body underwent a gruesome process of bloating and softening by draining blood and guts into the sand. On Thursday, the workers chopped the whale with an excavator. The chunks were transported to a San Diego County landfill, where every sliced part were separately buried.
The ghastly removal lasted for two days and cost the state government $30,000 (PhP 1.4 million).
This was the only option for the state. The idea of a beach burial was impossible due to the mammal’s 40-foot height, and ‘indescribable muck will come out’ if workers will allow the whale to decompose by itself, according to Mike Bursk, captain of a research vessel for the Ocean Institute, in his interview with California news site OC Register.
Despite the filthy and staunching odor of the decaying whale carcass, people traveled to take snapshots of the innocent mammal. Here are Instagram users capturing the melancholy moments of the whale. Gianna Francesca Catolico