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Yes, Really: The Rotting Corpse Of Wally The Whale Washed Ashore...Again
Lifeguards unable to remove beached whale from Encinitas. Will try again tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/aS4KB1WM2A
— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewisTV) July 17, 2016
Deceased viral video star Wally the humpback whale is starting to overstay her welcome, even in death.
ABC-7 reports that a whale that is believed to be Wally—whose rotting, 45-foot-long corpse initially washed up at Dockweiler State Beach on July 1— arrived on the beach in Encinitas Saturday, once again complicating the lives of Southern California lifeguards. While lifeguards were not able to 100% confirm that this was Wally, who else could it be? Encinitas lifeguard Captain Larry Giles told FOX-5 that the whale corpse drifted from the north.
According to Brandon Lewis of CBS-8, lifeguards decided they were unable to do anything about removing the whale today, and will try again tomorrow.
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Dead whale washed ashore at Grandview #Encinitas #whale #deadwhale pic.twitter.com/ApQFRReGcG
— Edward Philbrick (@EdPhilbrick) July 17, 2016
Yeah, good luck with that! On Friday, we reported that Wally had to be towed back out to sea for a sixth time after approaching San Clemente State Beach last week. Turns out, the sixth time was *not* the charm. It's been nearly three weeks of several attempts to tow Wally out to a permanent sea grave, but she keeps coming back.
So, what gives? The Daily Breeze posits that Wally has yet to be towed out far enough, given ocean current and wind patterns. A model constructed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that Wally should have been towed at least 30 miles offshore—double the distance she was initially towed. Why? Because that's about all the lifeguard water vehicles can handle.
Additionally—and this is possibly the best part—scientist Justin Greenman said that "the gases that built up inside Wally turned the whale into a sail...making it even easier for the animal's corpse to be pushed by winds and currents back toward the shore."
Perhaps it's time to chop 'er up and be done with it.
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