Macabre tourist attraction
30 tons: whale carcass in England attracts onlookers
People stand by the carcass of a 17 meter long Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) lying on a beach in East Yorkshire. photo
© Danny Lawson/PA/AP/dpa
People travel to the beach on England’s North Sea coast to take photos of a dead whale. Meanwhile, the authorities have logistical concerns.
A 30-ton fin whale that washed up on the English North Sea coast and died presents the authorities with logistical difficulties.
The British news agency PA reported that they wanted to avoid cutting the 17-meter-long animal on the beach, instead it should be transported in one piece. The whale that washed up on Tuesday and died a short time later has now become a “macabre tourist attraction”. Entire families traveled to the beach in the parish of Bridlington, Yorkshire, to take selfies. Authorities urged people to stay away from the animal.
“We will be working with contracted companies in the coming days to try to move the whale off the beach as a whole, and we are working with zoological experts to determine the reason for this sad event,” a spokesman for the municipality said.
According to experts, fin whales are rarely sighted in the North Sea. They tend to stay in deeper waters. It was only at the beginning of April that a dead sperm whale washed up on the North Sea coast near Grimbsby, in the county of Lincolnshire, a little further south. Another whale carcass was discovered on the east coast of Scotland on Thursday, the PA news agency reported.