PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - It’s a hard sight to stomach — a dead whale has been decaying for two weeks on a private Plymouth beach and the people who live there say the stench is getting to be unbearable.
The rotting smell is so putrid, the neighbors living in the Ocean Aire Estates say they are forced to close their windows and stay inside.
“It really is like really, really, really, terrible seafood times, I don’t know, a million,” said Michelle Rosenker who says she can smell the dead whale inside her home. “It’s so bad and it just carries in the air and in the wind.”
Residents said the 21-foot-long Minke whale washed up on the shore on July 18. An animal welfare crew was then called in to examine the carcass.
“They told us, ‘Please don’t have anybody touch this whale because we haven’t determined the cause of death yet … it could have had some kind of infectious disease that could be harmful to humans,” Arlene Bledsoe said of the welfare crew.
In the 17 days since the whale’s arrival, no one has come to remove the body.
Since the whale did not wash up on a town or state beach, it is up to the homeowners association to get rid of it.
“People might take it to the next level of trying to get rid of it themselves by burning it or cutting it up, so I do think that becomes a public health concern,” Laura Leone said.
Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working with the homeowners association as they work to get proper permits, find a contractor to cart the whale away and organize a drop at the Bourne landfill.
Until then, people living nearby are holding their noses but not their breaths.
“We are kind of left in the dark and left with the smell,” Rosenker said.
There is no date yet on when the whale will ebe removed. The association will be responsible for the costs.
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