Malibu Whale Carcass Finally Towed to Sea — By Private Firm

As government agencies squabbled over who should remove the carcass of a 41-foot whale from an exclusive Malibu beach, a local businessman paid to get the job done.

The rotting carcass of a 41-foot fin whale is floating somewhere 20 miles off the Malibu coast today, after a Malibu businessman and homeowners passed the hat to pay to tow it to sea.

The whale had been killed by a ship, and had created a bureaucratic stink in the seaside community when government agencies disagreed on whose jurisdiction the carcass was fouling.

County Fire Department officials were planning to tow it out to sea Saturday night, when the highest tides of the week were expected to allow the remains to float over the rocky reef that had snagged it last weekend.

But a private tow vessel was hired to do the dirty job. Lifeguards said its fee was primarily paid by Bob Moore, a Malibu resident who owns the restaurant at nearby Paradise Cove.

Homeowners living near the reeking mess told the Malibu Patch website that residents also chipped in.

Earlier in the week, the City of Malibu, L.A. county lifeguards, and California State Parks politely pointed fingers at each other as resident clamored for the corpse to be removed.

The city does not own or regulate one inch of the 22 miles of beaches in Malibu, a spokeswoman said. The adjacent dry beach is owned homeowners, and sand below the normal high tide line is owned by the people of California.

But state parks officials said their nearest property was one cove over, and they don't have a boat large enough to drag the rotting mess seaward.

By late last week, local Chumash Indians had reportedly performed a beachside ceremony for the animal's spirit, and government officials said it looked like time and the tides would dispose of the deteriorating mess.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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