ROCKPORT, Mass., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The carcass of a 54-foot finback whale that washed up in Rockport, Mass., is being disposed of the natural way, officials say.
The decomposing carcass has become something of a tourist attraction in spite of a smell resembling a mound of garbage on a hot summer day, The Boston Globe reports.
The whale remains got a steady stream of visitors Tuesday. David Taylor, a retired teacher, removed the pelvic bone for the benefit of scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod.
Normally, whale carcasses that drift ashore are transported to landfills or buried on site. But officials have decided to leave this one in place.
The carcass was first spotted in early October floating in Boston Harbor. It came ashore at Rockport on the tip of rocky Cape Ann, about 25 miles northeast of Boston.
