Exploding Whale Memorial Park

[Aspenglow]

Well, everyone’s got an opunion.

[robardin]

So… What IS the recommended method for dealing with a huge, rotting whale carcass?

A Google search turned up this NY Times article from 2016 pondering the right course of action for a 70,000 pound dead whale that washed ashore of a California beach, of course noting the 1970 Exploding Whale Incident of Florence, Oregon as a “what not to do”, but also noting that that whale had been an “eight ton” carcass - which is “only” 16,000 pounds. This one was SEVENTY thousand!

Despite it being 1970, at least nobody in Florence had done this:

One onlooker, Cynthia Stern, told The Associated Press she had driven 75 miles to lay an orchid by the whale and to rub its rotting flesh with homeopathic balms.

“You could start to feel the positive energy as you walked down the beach,” she said. “Even though it’s a carcass, it’s profoundly positive — and anyone who went there is blessed.”

What, no crystals?

According to the OC Register, here’s what eventually happened: a contractor took care of it over two days with heavy equipment.

Rich Haydon, area state parks superintendent, said the contractor used plastic sheeting and straw swales to contain any liquids from the whale during dissection and uplift into dump trucks.

“We were really surprised that there wasn’t more seepage coming off of the whale,” Haydon said. “When we were all there the day before on a site visit, a marine biologist taking blubber samples pierced the skin and it started to off-gas. We think they actually did us a favor by releasing some of that pressure in the whale, because it never popped – it never blew out all the decomposing contents.

“As they started to dismember the carcass, they said it was messy but it wasn’t as messy as it could have been,” Haydon said. …

“It’s to be expected there will be a little bit of a smell down there for awhile,” he said, “but I think we dodged a bullet.”

Two surfing friends, Nick Lind of Newport Beach and Matthew Howell of San Clemente, experienced the odor Friday morning while surfing the point at Lower Trestles during removal of the last pieces of whale.

“It did have an interesting stench to it,” Lind said, “sort of like a rotten baked potato. It was overpowering when we were near shore.”

So, take note: pierce the carcass with holes to “off-gas” before cutting it up into pieces.

[smithsb]

B L M

Blubber Leaves Mammal.

That’s all I got.

[Machine_Elf]

@robardin

“We were really surprised that there wasn’t more seepage coming off of the whale,” Haydon said. “When we were all there the day before on a site visit, a marine biologist taking blubber samples pierced the skin and it started to off-gas. We think they actually did us a favor by releasing some of that pressure in the whale, because it never popped – it never blew out all the decomposing contents.

This is more dangerous than it sounds. This guy was lucky.

[Bumbazine]

They prolly shoulda named it Exploded Whale Memorial Park.

Unless they’re planning on periodic re-enactments.

[LSLGuy]

Here’s a couple of other (naturally) exploding whales.

Sperm Whale Necropsy in South Africa *Exploding Stomach* - YouTube . All the action is between 2:10 & 2:45; the rest is pretty much nothing happening. But it’s a nice intro to putrefaction-induced whale-bursts.

This one is a much better whale-burst. And better edited to boot: A whale explodes in Taiwan - YouTube

Such fun. YouTube has a few more for the connoisseurs of whale bursts amongst us.

[running_coach]

It’s like Mother Nature has a pimple.

[sunstone]

Not quite on topic, but I remember going to a beached and very dead California Grey whale in San Luis Obispo County, CA back when I was a graduate student. We were collecting tissue samples, and I vividly remember the smell, but even worse were the giant whale lice that were abandoning the carcass. Huge things related to sowbugs but with stabby legs and predatory looking mouthparts…and they were crawling toward me. Aaarrrhhhhh!

Don’t remember the ultimate fate of the carcass for sure, but I think it was towed out to sea.

[Paul_was_in_Saudi]

I like the way you think. Annual Exploding Whale Days with fun activities for the whole family!

[susan]

It’s Florence. Trust me when I say that there are crystals.