A massive fin whale washed ashore on Wednesday night on Bolsa Chica State Beach. NBC Los Angeles reports biologists identified it as an adult female measuring 68 feet and weighing approximately 115,000 pounds.
The carcass of the same adult female and a calf were discovered May 8th when a Royal Australian Navy boat pulled into a San Siego Naval Base. A tow company then dragged both carcasses some 50 miles out to sea for an ocean burial believing the currents would take the pair south but that obviously didn’t happen. The adult fin whale washed ashore in Bolsa Chica Wednesday night, some 80 miles to the north.
A section of Bolsa Chica State Beach was shut down Friday after the Orange County Health Care Agency determined that the decomposing remains posed a health hazard. Over the weekend, it was cut apart and scooped up by heavy loaders and carried off to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The Center for Biological Diversity, an animal rights group, is threatening to sue the Navy, saying the military is not abiding by the marine mammal protection act. They want the Navy to stop training exercises in that area, which is what U.S. ships were doing with the Australian destroyer at the time.