Well, it actually happened. Yesterday, state parks officials announced a plan to hack apart a decomposing gray whale at San Onofre State Beach and haul the parts off to a landfill. Today, that stomach-churning idea became reality as a construction crew went to town on the expired marine mammal using an excavator and bulldozer. Somehow there is footage of this horrible event and, thanks to the Orange County Register, it's available for your consumption. Mercifully, the video seems to have been edited a bit to spare viewers from some of the truly gory moments. Still, there's enough whale chopping in there to warrant a bold-font graphic content warning at the outset. It certainly isn't something we'd recommend putting on during dinner.
Meanwhile, it seems that the work at San Onofre State Beach is not yet done. According to the Register, dump trucks weren't able to haul away the entire carcass before the landfill where it was being taken closed for the day. Workers "covered and secured what remained" of the whale and will start back up tomorrow.
- Workers are cutting, disposing of beached gray whale, but they're not done yet [Orange County Register]
- Officials Have a Disgusting Plan to Remove the San Onofre Whale Carcass [Curbed LA]
- LA Getting Its First Year-Round Whale Watching Service [Curbed LA]