The remains of the whale, washed ashore at Pegwell Bay, have now been removed by the council from the coastline.
The whale washed up on Thursday morning (3 March) and was confirmed dead shortly afterwards. The council is responsible for disposing of the whale and took expert advice from the Institute of Zoology on the most humane way to do this.
Over the next course of the next day, in between high tides at the location, experts dissected the creature to learn more about it. Once this work was completed, it was then moved late on Friday (4 March) to the former hoverport site and it has now been removed from the shoreline.
Chief Executive Richard Samuel said: “The death of this wonderful marine animal on our shoreline is very sad, and has given an unusual disposal situation for the council. The last occasion we had a big whale on our beaches was in the mid 1990s, but that was not anywhere near as large. This is not something that the council has to deal with every day and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the experts who have given us advice on the most dignified way to deal with this beautiful animal.
He added: “Our thanks also go out to our team of officers, from various different departments of the council, who rallied round to deal with this incident. Our staff are the most valuable resource we have and many of them have gone the extra mile in helping to ensure that this situation was resolved as quickly as possible. The public have helped us tremendously today in following the advice of the police and council. By keeping to the cliff top, they have allowed the professionals get on with the job.”
Saturday 5 March 2011
3 comments:
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I was one of many council officers who was called in to help with crowd control on Saturday when this poor creature was cut up and transported away. Most of the people I spoke to were very understanding and did not question the fact that I was there to keep people away from potential dangers, however I would like to thank the small number of people who gave me abuse and others who thought it clever to stand and argue with me and on one occasion offer a treat of violence, the thanks is because I found you all most entertaining and very much sad for even turning up to watch this magnificent creature be dealt with. I was particularly miffed as to why parents with small children and of coarse irresponsible dog walkers would even attempt to get anywhere near this scene. Personally had I not been on duty I would have been far away from this scene, but then I have a life and have much better things to do with my time.
ReplyDeleteProof that council workers are overpaid. Some of us can't afford a life beyond viewing what's washed up on our beaches.
ReplyDeleteOverpaid, I Wish, but at least I go to work and pay my way, and I am sure there are better things to view elsewhere. Comment above obviously comes from just the sort of lowlife I had to deal with.
ReplyDelete