SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) – It literally was a whale of a job, but crews have finished removing the 60,000-ton carcass of a rotting whale from a Southern California beach.
The last remnants of the 40-foot gray whale were removed Friday from a beach near San Clemente.
The Orange County Register says the end of the two-day, $30,000 project included skimming the top layer of sand off the Lower Trestles beach where the whale washed ashore on Sunday.
That’s to eliminate any contaminated sand from the mammal’s body fluids.
The whale was a tourist attraction for a few days. Despite an overpowering stench, some people skipped work or school to snap photos with the towering carcass.
The remains of the whale were trucked to a San Diego County landfill.