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Laurenz Castillo / EPA
Filipino workers remove the ropes and straps tied around the carcass of the a sperm whale on the flatbed of a 16 wheeler trailer truck during its burial. The whale was buried at the fish cemetery of the Zamboanga State College of Marine Science and Technology in Zamboanga City, southern Philippines, Sept. 19. The dead giant sea mammal was spotted, already dead, floating near an island off the coast of Zamboanga City.
Workers retrieved and buried a 52-foot-long sperm whale near Sacol Island off the coast of Zamboanga City, Philippines, on Sept. 19, according to Agence France Presse. Environmental officials believe the whale was sick and had died several days ago, according to press reports.
Laurenz Castillo / EPA
Philippine Coast Guard personnel look at the floating carcass of a 52 foot-long sperm whale in the wharf of Zamboanga City, southern Philippines, on Sept. 19.
AFP - Getty Images
Workers remove ropes from the carcass of a 52-foot-long sperm whale after it was towed from the sea to the pier of Zamboanga City, on the southern island of Mindanao on Sept. 19. The dead giant mammal was spotted by the coast guard on Sept. 19, floating near Sacol island off the coast of Zamboanga City. Environmental officials believe the whale had been sick and died several days ago, as quoted by press reports.
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20,000 lbs of food, that could have gone to already starving sea creatures, pulled up onto shore and buried in the dirt. How is it that Man is the smartest mammal?
BTW, that hole is NOWHERE near deep enough. In 3 months that place is going to stink to high heaven and, when that carcass decomposes there will be a huge sink hole.
Maybe you need to get into the Asian Mind.
They are going to let it rot in the ground then dig it up and feast on it!
10-4 on the 'nature take its course', frit.
Not sure why the effort to tow, lift, carry & bury this guy. Tow him out to deeper water and let the feast begin.
Echoing the other comments, why was it buried?!? Why not tow it out to deeper water and let nature take care of it? Seems like a massive waste of money and energy. And a fish cemetery? Really!?!?
This is such a waste of time and everything else. Why couldn't they just tow it out to sea so the deep sea creatures and other marine scavengers could feast on it? This is so pointless. What is this, I don't even...
Exactly whaT I WAS THINKING....WHY MAKE THIS MASSIVE hole with several tons of potentially lethal rotting meat next to buildings....I bet their water starts tasting funny in a few weeks... Tow it out to see, shoot a few holes into it and let it sink to the bottom, like 10000s of other whales over the centuries...Nature knows how to clean up after itself...let it.
A carcass that big would be a hazard to shipping if towed out to sea; even after it sank, it would foul local waters unless it sank somewhere very deep. If left on the shore it would produce a stench that is hard to believe unless you've stood downwind of a whale carcass. Burying it is really the best option. But that grave needs to be at least twice as deep to deter scavengers and muffle the smell.
Burying it deep enough, for at least three years, would also allow for later exhumation of the skeleton, including the relatively tiny bones that aren't generally found in whale "graveyards" on remote beaches. We have an articulated gray whale skeleton on display in my town that came from just such a project. In fact, according to an article in Zamboanga Today Online, that is one possible use of the bones. Note that the whale was buried in land set aside as a "fish cemetery" on the grounds of a college of marine sciences, suggesting that they've done this before. Also, this was a pregnant female, so any bones that have already calcified in the fetus would be an interesting topic for study.
I doubt you'd have to go very far out to sea to find waters deep enough for this thing to decompose without fouling waters.
Centuries later it will be discovered that we worshiped whales, and if GMO foods continue we may be them!!
Ahhh. Good point Franklin Ashley. Wow have I got the juice on that subject. We should talk.
Are they retarded, nature would have made fast work of it. At least they will have some great soil for awhile.