Saturday, February 16 2013

THE rotting carcass of a 30 foot-long whale which washed ashore at Patience Bay in Toco could not be buried yesterday as planned. Chairman of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation (SGRC) Keshwar Maharaj said the carcass could not be buried because of its state of decomposition and location at the bay.

“The backhoe could not reach it,” he said. Maharaj said the whale would now be cut into pieces by employees of the SGRC for burial today. On Thursday, Maharaj gave approval to officials of the Toco Regional section of the corporation to use corporation equipment to have the remains of the whale buried.

“The Stench has been causing a discomfort to students, teachers and support staff at the nearby Keshorn Walcott Composite Secondary school so we want to deal with issue once and for all this weekend,” he said.

According to reports, villagers of the North East Coast saw the carcass of the whale lying next to rocks when they went for their morning swim at Patience bay Thursday morning. As word spread about the discovery many villagers and school-children from the nearby Keshorn Walcott High School rushed to the bay to get a glimpse of the whale. Officers from the Forestry Division believed that the whale could have died about two to three weeks and was washed ashore Thursday night.