A popular beach on the Washington coast became home to a dead gray whale, and the state moved quickly to bury the carcass before scores of clam diggers were to arrive just two days later. The 38-foot female was the third whale to wash up in the area in recent years. In the report linked below, the reporter makes explicit mention of Oregon’s Exploding Whale: “I think it’s the best thing they can do, unless they can take it out there and let the fish eat it or whatever,” she said. That’s wouldn’t work; it would just come back with the tide. And everyone knows that blowing it up is a lousy idea. They tried that, with disastrous results some years back in Florence, Oregon. Media links: Article:  ‘The most horrible smell you’ve smelled’: Dead whale washes ashore   – KOMO News Video:  ‘The most horrible smell you’ve smelled’: Dead whale washes ashore   – KOMO News Archived copy of the video from the Exploding Whale video portal on YouTube:

Oregon’s Exploding Whale was once again mentioned in a  news story about the arrival of a 50-foot whale carcass to the Port of Everett in Washington State .  The advanced state of decay initially made it difficult to identify the type of whale, though experts now believe it was a fin whale. This is the second specimen of this endangered and rarely-seen whale to come ashore in Washington in less than six months. (The carcass of another fin whale washed up on a Washington beach  last May .) As with the last one, researchers believe the whale had been struck by a ship. However, it was also entangled in such a way that it had likely been unable to feed for weeks or possibly months.  The whale was found when dock workers complained of a foul smell coming from under the dock.  Oregon’s Exploding Whale was also referenced:  Whale remains often are treated like gangland snitches – left to decompose on remote beaches, hastily buried, or brought to deep water, weight...

The bloated carcass of a gigantic 54-foot humpback whale washed ashore on a beach in the southwest corner of Washington State. Staff from a nearby aquarium believe the whale has been dead for some time. On Friday, whale experts are expected to conduct a necropsy in order to determine how the whale died. Following this, Washington State Parks officials plan to bury the 15-ton leviathan on the beach. No exploding whale here, I’m afraid! Dead whale washes up on Wash. Coast   – KGW 54-Foot Whale Carcass Washes Ashore   – KOIN Rare giant lands ashore, drawing gawkers and scientific interest   – The Oregonian Sea Creatures Shock Beach Goers in Oregon and Washington   – Salem-News.com A whale’s death draws the curious   – Seattle Times Scientists race the tide for whale   – The Oregonian Humpback whale carcass to be buried on beach   – KATU A whale of an event   – Chinook Observer

It’s been a tough week for the endangered fin whale. Two dead whales, one on each coast of the United States, have been attracting significant attention. We start in Delaware and then move west to Washington state.  Delaware struggles with 35 tons of dead whale Residents of the Delaware coast are struggling with how to dispose of a giant whale carcass that came ashore on May 13. As the second largest creature on the planet (next to the blue whale), it should come as no surprise that crews using ropes to move the 35-ton, 55-foot fin whale encountered problems — even  after  the rotting hulk was dissected into smaller pieces, which included decapitating the dead beast. According to Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the non-profit  Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute , “The ropes (used to drag the whale) keep breaking. We’re waiting for a chain and we have a rope on loan from a barge towing company.” Once the chains and other equipment arrive, w...