Authorities in New Jersey have not had a whale of a time as the new year approaches.
Marine rescuers buried a frozen whale carcass from a beach along the state’s Eastern Seaboard. After the whale reportedly washed ashore on Christmas and was beached near the inlet in Barnegat Light, authorities decided to bury the 31-foot humpback on the beach Monday morning.
Crews used two front-end loaders to dig a trench and roll the whale into it, after which sand was smoothed on top.
Bon Schoelkopf, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, said the decision was a necessary measure because of the attention the carcass was attracting.
“We needed to do something with it, and we couldn’t leave it there any longer,” Schoelkopf said, according to the Star Tribune. “There were just too many people coming near it.”
Fascination with whales is a trend among beachgoers. The mammal is of particular significance in many Pacific, Inuit, and Native American mythologies, a particularly poignant fact given that many subspecies are endangered.
Prior to the decision to bury the mammal, officials were faced with a dilemma. The typical method of removal — dismembering the mammal and hauling him away piecemeal — was untenable due to the whale’s hardened state. This process was employed in April 2017 when a whale was beached in Toms River, New Jersey, the Star Tribune reported.
Schoelkopf expressed skepticism that this approach would work in this instance, indicating that authorities might pursue a different avenue.
“The whale’s too frozen,” he said. “We can’t even cut into the blubber. It’s too thick and frozen.”
By the time crews finished burying the animal in the early afternoon, the only remaining indication of the whale was the lingering stench in the air.
