There are many theories that seek to understand why whales beach themselves, effectively committing suicide.
Some people believe that the whales have become sick and confused by natural causes such as disease, while other people believe that water pollution or sonar is to blame.
Regardless of why whales end up beaching themselves, the issue then becomes what the local people should do about it.
This is how the incident of the exploding whale came about.
The exploding whale
The whale in question in this incident was a sperm whale.
It beached itself on November 12, 1970, and it died not long after on the lonely stretch of the Oregon coast.
Its death was a tragedy of course, but the smell of rotting meat and the sheer size of the whale itself made removal a high priority for local officials that could not allow the whale’s body to continue to rot on the soil, so they devised a strategy to quickly remove the whale from the beach.
The location
Florence Oregon.
Florence, Oregon is a quiet town located on the Oregon coast, and in many ways, it was unprepared to deal with the issue of a beached whale.
There was a fair amount of contention over who was responsible for dealing with the whale and what the best method of removal would be.
Though the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department did have jurisdiction over similar matters, all of the beaches in Oregon at the time of the beaching were overseen by the Oregon Highway Division.
Decision making
This was the first time that a beached whale had become an issue for the state of Oregon, and many solutions were proposed.
The issue was that the whale, which measured an impressive 45 feet long, was too heavy to be towed out to sea or otherwise cut up for disposal.
Instead, after a lengthy consultation with the United States Navy, it was determined that the whale should be treated as the navy would treat a boulder, which meant that it should be blown up.
Reasoning
The theory behind the decision was that blowing up the whale would reduce it to small chunks that would be easy for the local birds and scavengers to clean up.
As it was, the whale was too large for any of the predators to really make an impression, however blowing up the whale would reduce it to very small chunks that would allow it to be devoured more easily by scavengers.
Explosives
More than 1000 pounds of dynamite were strategically applied to the whale’s carcass in preparation for the operation.
The amount of dynamite used was determined by an engineer named George Thornton.
Before the explosion took place there happened to be another explosives expert on the site that recognized what Thornton was doing and explained that the amount of dynamite he was using was simply too large, and that a mere twenty sticks of dynamite would probably be enough to blow the whale up.
Unfortunately the explosive experts advice was not taken into consideration and the explosives ended up causing much more of an explosion than Thornton had anticipated.
The result
The force of the blast was so powerful that large pieces of whale blubber ended up being thrown all the way to nearby buildings and parking lots.
One large piece of blubber ended up landing with enough force that it badly damaged a parked car, however no one ended up seriously hurt from the incident.
Unfortunately, large amounts of the carcass remained intact after the explosion, which meant that it was still up to the Oregon Highway division to clean it up.
Scavengers
In the weeks to come, scavengers like birds, raccoons and opossums did help to clear away some of the whale carcass, however they were initially frightened off for days by the blast.
While the scavengers helped remove some of the whales carcass larger pieces took additional time and effort to be removed.
Future Considerations
Due to the damage that was caused to local property as well as the fact that the whales carcass was only partially disintegrated, it was decided that explosives would not be used in the future whenever they ended up experiencing a situation involving beached whales.
In fact when 41 sperm whales beached in Oregon less than ten years later, the state decided that the carcasses should be first burned and then buried, not blown up.
Success or Failure
The incident of the exploding whale was brought to national attention by humorist Dave Barry, who enjoyed making joking remarks about the situation and is the reason why the story traveled from state to state across the nation.
The people who were involved in blowing up the whale in the first place do regard the operation as a success, though public opinion varies.
Today, whales that end up beached in Oregon are buried where they are found.
If they cannot be rescued and if they cannot be buried at the beach they landed on (often due to a lack of available land) then means are found to take them to another beach where they can be buried.