Thiruvananthapuram: The carcass of a huge whale washed ashore at Valiyaveli in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district, making it the latest in a series of such instances in the last couple of months in the coastal state. Foul smell was emanating from the days-old 15-metre-long carcass when it was found on Thursday morning. The city corporation staff later buried the whale on the beach itself.
Of late the carcasses of a few whales and even an elephant seal had washed ashore on different beaches across Kerala.
Early August the carcass of a killer whale or orca had washed ashore on the Puthukurichi beach in Thiruvananthapuram district itself. It was 12ft long, and weighed three tons.
Around the same time, the body of a huge dead whale had washed ashore on the coast of Kasaragod too at the northern end of the state.
Those residing on the coasts occasionally come across the remains of marine animals, but frequent finds are a rarity, at least in Kerala.
Though the discovery creates a hubbub locally, now authorities are worried about health hazards if the decaying body is not safely disposed on time. Moreover, remover giant carcasses pose a challenge.
The carcass that was found on Valiyaparambu beach at Trikaripur in Kasaragod district in the first week of August was bleeding profusely when it was found.An earth-mover was initially brought to shift the carcass. When it failed, the help of fire force personnel was sought by the village authorities. As the fire brigade too could nothing to move the carcass, another earth mover was brought in. It took the combined effort of the two machines, ifre force personnel and the local people to pull in the carcass completely on to the land after struggling for about six hours.
People in the locality had said that they had not seen such a huge whale in the recent times. However, they also expressed their anguish over the carcass that was fast decaying. They feared health hazards if it was not properly buried.
