Crowds gathered in Seattle to see a dead whale that washed up on shore from the Puget Sound. The carcass, which has caused a big stench to take over the beach, will be towed away soon so that it can decompose naturally.
The Washington town of Burien got a visit from the smelly body of a fin whale which was hit and killed by a ship in the Pacific. The whale was dragged into the Puget Sound on the bow of a ship.
Many gathered at Seahurst Park over the weekend to see the large animal and to take pictures or even touch it. Despite the smell of the dead animal, large crowds gathered after the whale washed up on shore on Saturday, just two miles from Sea-Tac Airport.
The skeletons of whales are sometimes preserved for educational or display purposes but no one wanted the whale for that purpose as it was torn in half by the ship. As a result, Burien is responsible for removing the animal.
"It's pretty strong smelling now," Myron Clinton, maintenance and operations supervisor for Burien parks said according to the Washington Post, "and only getting worse."
Clinton wasn't sure if burying the whale or taking it to a plant would be a good option as it would have to be cut up.
"That would be pretty messy and not pretty," he said. The cost is expected to run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The National Marine Fisheries Service stepped up and helped arrange for the dead whale to be towed off the beach on Tuesday evening when the high tide came in. The dead animal will be towed to a secure beach on the Puget Sound where it will be able to decompose naturally without having people touch it or smell the body.
Experts believe the whale was hit by a boat as it had red paint on its body. The whale was likely 65-feet long but only 52 feet of the body remained.
Fin whales are considered to be an endangered species.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
