Heavy machinery called in to shift dead whale from South African beach
The heavy machinery had to be wheeled out to try to remove a dead humpback whale that washed ashore on a beach in South Africa.
Crowds gathered at Cape Town’s Strand Beach on Wednesday as at least three front-end loaders rolled up to attempt to move the enormous animal, amateur video shows.
The carcass of a four-metre whale washed up on the beach overnight, and was lodged on a reef, according to the city’s environmental corporate governance director Gregg Oelofse.
“The dead animal offshore is nothing unusual. We get quite a lot of that during the year,” he said.
Oelofse said their whale standing team was pretty efficient reported News24.
A group of bystanders had already gathered to look at the dead whale.
“We have asked that the public give us space. We will try and put chains and straps around it and lift it onto a flatbed truck,” he said.
“It is big machinery and if those chains snap, it can be very dangerous.”
Environmental affairs department officials were on site as of early morning, taking samples from the animal. The carcass will be taken to a landfill site for disposal.
