To the residents of the fishing villages in Newfoundland, Canada, there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to dead whales. Dealing with them, however, has become a recurring problem.
After the carcass conundrum in Trout River and Rocky Harbor a few weeks ago, Cape St. George is facing the same tight spot after a beached sperm whale about 40 feet long was found in the rocky shores of the town.
Any municipality in Newfoundland where a dead marine giant would be washed ashore is solely responsible for disposing it because the Canadian fisheries department would not be caught dead helping them. With no one to offer assistance and not enough funds to discard the body, what better way to get rid of the problem? Cape St. George town's solution: sell it on eBay.
Peter Fenwick, the town's mayor, resorted to what he considered the "cheapest way" of disposing it. After the town council voted on Sunday, they all agreed to enlist the whale on eBay.
"Once the fat and flesh is removed you have a spectacular 40-foot (12-meter) skeleton of the largest toothed whale in the world, great for museums and other attractions," the description of the auction declared.
Immediately, the announcement garnered plenty of bids, from 99 cents to a hefty $2,000. However, when Cape St. George thought it was about to get its hands off the dead sperm whale finally, eBay shut the listing off Monday because it does not authorize selling of animal and other wildlife products, dead or alive.
Being almost close to success of ridding the body, Fenwick is still optimistic that someone would be interested in buying the dead sperm whale, even offering it for free, as long as the buyer would be in charge or shipping it out of the town.
"Our major objective was to get rid of the whale, and we feel that there may be enough out there who know about it, who may be interested in it," Fenwick said in an interview.
"If they want a free whale, we'll be glad to give it to them, provided they can make suitable arrangements to remove it from the beach and put it in a place where it's not a major annoyance to the community."
The chilly water has been slowing down the decay of the sperm whale but its putrid smell is dreaded to cause a serious problem to the communities living near it.
The mayor is also hopeful that a museum might be interested in hauling the body, similar to what Trout River and Rocky Harbor town did. After expressing concerns about a possible "whale explosions," the Royal Ontario Museum took charge of these towns' carcasses following a deal.
