Lower Trestles Whale to Be Cut and Hauled Away Thursday

California State Parks officials are warning the crowds that have been coming to see the 40-foot gray whale to stay away because the work won’t be particularly safe or pretty, said Kevin Pearsall, Public Safety Superintendent for California State Parks, Orange Coast.

“The procedure is a very messy experience and not a very positive visual experience,” said Pearsall. “I would not want my 7-year-old daughter to watch a whale, which she thinks is a beautiful animal, cut up into pieces.”

To try to minimize the trauma to the public, authorities are asking residents to stay away, and they requested that Surfline turn its live streaming beach camera away from the whale.

The state contracted with an independent company experienced at dissecting whales and hauling them to landfills, said Pearsall.

Officials considered other options such as dragging the whale out to see, but the risk was too high that the carcass would wash right back up on the shore, said Pearsall. The rocky beach made burying the carcass unfeasible. White it’s common to bury dead whales, it’s not a popular option with local surfers.

More than a decade ago, a whale washed up in San Clemente and was buried. For years, locals complained of putrid oils seeping from the sand into the water, creating an unhealthy environment and attracting sharks. Many surfers will swear that decomposing whale drew great white sharks to the area for years, but Pearsall doesn’t buy it.

"It’s a myth. It’s part of the surfing culture,” he said. “Great white sightings superceded that way before the burying of the whale. It’s not a concern.”

The main concern was to find a crew that could ensure maximum cleanup of the carcass to minimize any possible environmental hazard. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken samples of the whale to try to determine the cause of death.

“Our main was concern was environmental after the fact,” Pearsall said. “We are just trying to be cautious. It may have died of a disease, we’re not sure, and since we don’t know and because there is so much activity in that area, we’re being cautious.”