SYDNEY, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Authorities are still scratching their heads trying to figure out how they can remove a 20-meter-long whale carcass from a remote beach in Sydney's Royal National Park.
Washing up just over one week ago, the mystery of how the enormous creature came to be there and what species it is also remains unclear.
Called in to assist, the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), second vice president, Jools Farrell, explained to Xinhua on Monday that it's possible the whale could have been ill, hit by a ship or simply just died of old age.
"As far as the species, we're not sure," she said.
"It's a very big whale, so it could be a fin whale or it could be a sei whale ... but we don't think it's a humpback because of its size and because of where the dorsal fin is located."
With DNA samples of the animal already taken for testing by researchers, Farrell said the species of the whale should be uncovered in the coming days.
"We usually just get humpbacks and minkes, so having a sei whale or a fin whale up this way is quite rare," she said.
While whales in Australia are often removed from beaches in these circumstances by crane and taken to be buried, because the animal is so large and the location is so isolated, the New South Wales State Office of Environment and Heritage and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have been forced to examine other alternatives.
"A humpback can weigh up to 50 tons and this whale is probably heavier than that," Farrell said.
"It will be removed, but we're not sure at this stage as to how or who will do it."
"Sometimes they will attach it to a boat and tow it out to sea but because of the amount of sharks around it, that is also delaying how they are going to do it."
Although using explosives to break the animal into smaller pieces has previously been tried in other countries, Farrell said authorities are not considering this as an option.
They have also warned the public and curious hikers against going into the water after two men on the weekend went to the site in order to film feeding sharks with and underwater camera.
"When you have a dead marine creature, you have sharks," Farrell said.
"Sharks are there to clean up the ocean, that's what they do."
"Stay out of the water!" she urged, "It's extremely dangerous!"
