Whale Carcass Causes Another Stink

A whale of a problem that faced Del Mar lifeguards is now a rather stinky problem for lifeguards from a different beach.

The carcass of a roughly 20-foot-long whale that had washed up on a Del Mar beach Friday and was then towed back to the ocean, washed up again at a Torrey Pines beach Saturday.

"This was a gift from the Del Mar lifeguards who hauled it offshore yesterday about five miles.  Unfortunately, it came back to shore on our beach. We are currently taking measures to dispose of it," State Beach Lifeguard Lt. Ed Vodraska said.  "We'll have our heavy equipment out here to move it on Monday."

Del Mar lifeguards had expressed concern Friday that the current could bring the whale back, so they spread the word.

"We let beaches to the south know, specifically the city of San Diego, that the whale was out there and there's a potential that it could move in that direction," Edelbrock said. 

Del Mar lifeguards had pushed it back into the water, tied it up and towed it five miles out to sea.

"Obviously where they dropped it wasn't far enough out, so it got caught up in a northwest current and washed ashore. Again, we view it as our Easter present from Del Mar lifeguards," Vodraska said.

The gray whale appeared to have been dead for several weeks and was too badly decomposed to be the same whale that residents had dubbed Diego, according to the biologist.

A lifeguard says a large gash at the midline indicated that the whale may have been hit by a boat propeller.

"There's not danger to the public. The only thing that's offensive is the smell. Obviously it's a dead animal and it's a very large animal, so it does have an accompanying smell that you notice when you're down wind for sure," Vodraska said. 

A 45 foot fin whale washed up in Pacific Beach just two months ago.  That whale was hauled away to the Miramar landfill to rest in peace.

Another dead whale was found Friday floating in Los Angeles Harbor.

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