A huge humpback whale that washed up at Perth’s City Beach on Monday has finally been removed from the shoreline, more than three days after attracting large crowds – and circling sharks.
A 72-tonne crane hired by the Town of Cambridge began lifting the 13-metre long, decomposing carcass at about 10am today as dozens of spectators watched on from a distance.
It has since been hoisted onto a truck, which has left the beach en route to a landfill site at Red Hill in Perth’s north-eastern suburbs.
The whale carcass is placed on a truck and moved away from City Beach. (ABC News: Lauren Smith)
In a statement, the East Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC) said the burial would occur under strict environmental and safety controls, but warned that people near Red Hill could notice a smell.
“Residents living near the facility may notice temporary odours associated with the arrival and burial of the carcass,” the statement read.
Huge crowds watched on from beyond an exclusion zone as the whale was removed.
(ABC News: Lauren Smith)
“EMRC will undertake the operation as efficiently as practicable to minimise any impacts on neighbouring communities.
“Any associated odours are expected to be temporary and dissipate once burial activities are completed.”
City Beach remained closed after contractors spent all day yesterday preparing to move the whale. But the operation failed because the excavator hired for the job was not strong enough to shift the mammal, which initially weighed 31 tonnes.
It was a difficult procedure to fit the whale on the truck, with its tail at one point hoisted in the air.
(ABC News: Lauren Smith)
The mammal now weighs around 18 tonnes after losing fluid in recent days.
Late yesterday it was wrapped in a net and dragged 1.5 kilometres along the shore to the surf club, where it remained overnight.
The operation to remove the whale is underway more than three days after it arrived. (ABC News: Callum Liddelow)
As the operation continued, a tagged white shark was detected this morning about four kilometres up the coast in Scarborough.
According to the state government’s SharkSmart website, the predator was detected six times between 5:55am and 7:17am this morning.
Town of Cambridge Mayor Gary Mack said the plan was to bury the whale in landfill.
“It’ll be lifted up, it’ll be laid on the truck and then sent to landfill,” he told 102.5 ABC Perth.
Town of Cambridge Mayor Gary Mack estimates the operation will cost the town $100,000. (ABC News: Lucy Murray)
Asked why the whale had not been towed out to sea, Mr Mack said that was not the removal method preferred by government agencies.
“The main reason it seems is that if it’s taken out to sea, the whale carcass is a shark attractant,”
he said.
“There’s no sure way of making sure it [won’t] break up into quite a number of pieces, and that could linger in the ocean for quite a while.”
Shark lure
Sharks have frequented the coastline since the carcass washed up, some up to 5 metres in length.
Some were spotted very close to shore.
“I have never seen a shark swimming in the break [and] I’ve been a surf life saver since I was 14,” Mr Mack said.
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“When I saw the swimming in the actual break, that’s the closest I’ve ever seen a shark in my life.”
He did not rule out asking the state government to foot the bill, but said the Town of Cambridge was planning to pay for the whale’s removal.
Yesterday, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development shared underwater footage on social media of a shark its staff had tagged in the area.
Both a 3.7 metre and a 3.1 metre white shark were tagged off Floreat and City Beach.
City Beach and Floreat Beach in the Town of Cambridge remain closed, and the nearby Town of Cottesloe has also closed its beaches.
Mr Mack said it could be days before the beaches reopened.
“Sharks are likely to hang around that area for a while before we open the beach,” he said.
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