{"id":908601,"date":"2026-09-28T13:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908601\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:36:13","slug":"washed-up-whale-carcass-at-city-beach-proves-logistical-nightmare-for-authorities-trying-to-remove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908601\/","title":{"rendered":"Washed-up whale carcass at City Beach proves logistical nightmare for authorities trying to remove it"},"content":{"rendered":"

A washed-up whale carcass lured sharks and hundreds of fascinated onlookers to City Beach on Monday and is now proving a giant headache for authorities working out how to remove its remains.<\/p>\n

The 13m humpback whale became stranded at 7.30am and quickly attracted great white sharks into the shallows at South City Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was two, and they came up and tried to have a go,\u201d beachgoer Lydia Moss said. \u201cThey\u2019re bigger than I thought they were going to be, they look big, massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Beach and others along the coast were closed as a precaution, with people urged to stay out of the water.<\/p>\n

But those who came to have a look from the sand had no issue spotting the feasting sharks amid the foul stench of the decaying whale.<\/p>\n

\"SharksCamera IconSharks at City Beach after a whale carcus washed ashore. Credit: 7NEWS\/7NEWS<\/p>\n

The SharkSmart website identified several sharks in the area throughout the day, including a 5m monster just 10m from shore, about 8.30am.<\/p>\n

Another 4m great white was spotted at 10.46am, while there were also reports of smaller sharks.<\/p>\n

The sight of sharks so close to shore and police boats in the water provided a terrible reminder of the horror at Sorrento Beach 10 days ago, when swimmer Greg O\u2019Neill, 63, was taken by a great white.<\/p>\n

Onlooker Sophie Wormald said the shark activity in the shallows would only feed people\u2019s anxieties about swimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be unusual summer at the beach. I think people are a little bit worried, and this is not going to help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Whale Watch Western Australia owner Gemma Sharp said one of her tours had seen the dead mammal about 7.5km off the coast of Scarborough Beach on Sunday afternoon. She was disappointed the whale \u2014 which she described as \u201cyoung\u201d \u2014 was not taken out to sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you tow it a fair way off, then the carcass will sink, and that keeps the sharks happy and keeps them off the coast,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"TheCamera IconThe whale carcuss is proving to be a problem for local authorities. Credit: 7NEWS\/7NEWS<\/p>\n

\u201cSharks will linger in the area for as long as that scent remains, and if (the whale) is sitting on the beach, the scent will settle into that area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just disappear when the whale goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Removing the remains \u2014 weighing about 31 tonnes \u2014 will be no mean feat.<\/p>\n

Authorities were still working through the location for its final resting place \u2014 likely a landfill facility at Baldivis or Red Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a complex and potentially hazardous operation involving a very large carcass, heavy machinery and specialist personnel, and we need to ensure we can do this safely before work begins,\u201d Cambridge mayor Gary Mack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is on removing the carcass intact as much as possible, at the earliest safe opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said public safety would determine when City Beach reopens, but it could be several days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWild carcasses attract sharks, and people nor their pets should actually go into the water at all while the beach is closed and should look after their personal safety,\u201d Mr Mack said.<\/p>\n

Summer life saving patrols are due to start this Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A washed-up whale carcass lured sharks and hundreds of fascinated onlookers to City Beach on Monday and is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,1042,45],"class_list":["post-908601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-sharks","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}