Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

Whale carcass towed to Newfoundland town before being shipped to Toronto museum

CP28291878
People gather near a rare blue whale carcass in Trout River, N.L. in this undated handout photo. Researchers began carving up the decaying remains of a rare blue whale on Thursday as they prepare to ship the animal\'s massive skeleton from Newfoundland to a museum in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Jacqueline Waters - Royal Ontario Museum

WOODY POINT, N.L. – A decaying blue whale has been towed to a small community in western Newfoundland where a team will begin stripping off its blubber before shipping it to a museum in Toronto.

Mark Engstrom of the Royal Ontario Museum says a crew hauled the massive mammal behind a fishing trawler to Woody Point from Trout River today.

He says a group of about a dozen people will strip the corpse of all skin, blubber and skeletal muscles before taking the skeleton apart and loading it into a container to be transported to the museum.

The group expects to have that work done within five days and will determine whether it will relocate another blue whale carcass to Woody Point from Rocky Harbour.

The team plans to take both skeletons to the museum in an effort to preserve a record of the highly endangered species, which numbers only about 250 in the North Atlantic.

The two blue whales were among nine killed by unusually thick sea ice this spring.

News from © The Canadian Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

Create a free account

The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is Canada's trusted news source and leader in providing real-time, bilingual multimedia stories across print, broadcast and digital platforms.

Related Articles