Thar She Stinks! Whale Carcass Decomposing in S. Laguna Cove

The badly decomposed body of a whale that washed ashore Friday for the second time this week is stuck in a tiny, inaccessible cove, causing consternation among county and city officials over how to remove the carcass before it creates a health threat.

Worried that bacteria from the 15-foot whale could contaminate county-run West Street and Thousand Steps beaches just one-third of a mile away, officials are hoping that high tides will float the carcass back out to sea.

“We have to leave it there” for now, Jim Huston, assistant director of the county environmental health department, said late Friday. “We can’t get any equipment in to remove it, and there isn’t enough sand there to bury it.”

The shallow, 50-foot-wide cove, below homes on Sea Cliff Drive, is surrounded by 75-foot-high, sheer rock faces and cannot be reached on foot, said John Thomas, a resident of the area.

The head and trunk of the mammal, believed to be either a blue or sei whale, turned up in the rocky cove late Thursday afternoon, Thomas said. Since then, its stench has been wafting up into South Laguna.

Lifeguards originally spotted the remains Wednesday at nearby Laguna Royale beach, said Mike Gaughan, director of U.S. Ocean Safety, which provides lifeguard service at county-operated beaches.

Holiday crowds made it impossible to bury or remove the badly decomposed carcass, so lifeguards closed off that portion of the beach and kept swimmers out of the water nearby, Gaughan said. That evening, high tides washed the carcass back out to sea.

Early Thursday, the whale’s body was spotted floating by employees of the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department. When they tried to tow it farther out to sea, the carcass began breaking apart and eventually entered the cove.

Laguna Beach public works employees are ready to aid the removal, although county and city officials late Friday were not sure which jurisdiction is responsible. The cove is in the city but lies between two county-run beaches.