Beached Whale Rots As Malibu Officials Delay Removal Efforts

On Monday, a 400,000 pound fin whale was beached at Little Dume in Malibu. The 40-foot creature has since been a source of mass confusion in the surrounding counties, as jurisdiction hurdles and a lack of protocol for the situation has officials scrambling to figure out how to deal with the whale's deteriorating carcass.

California State Parks spokesman Craig Sap explains that the organization does not have the resources to take care of the whale's body, the L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors has absolved itself of any involvement, and the City of Malibu government have not fully formulated their plan of attack.

In an interview with the Malibu Patch (via NBC News), County Lifeguard Kevin Marble notes that "It's not physically capable of being moved because of its condition. It's so embedded in the sand that they won't be able to get it out. The body will be pulled apart." 

Even alternative approaches, such as burying the animal, have hit substantial roadblocks. The Patch spoke to Rescue Boat Captain Kevin Marble, who states: "It looks like it ended up in one of those locations that is so isolated and so difficult to access both from the beach side and from the water side that solutions are not easy."

County Fire Department Inspector Brian Riley says that "Burial at low tide will be difficult as well as land removal. It's in an area with bad access."

While the county has been mulling over its options, scientists performed a necropsy and determined that the fin whale's cause of death was likely a ship strike.