PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The sight of a decaying whale carcass on a Plymouth beach is bad enough but the smell is nauseating. It’s so bad that it has people in this Ocean Aire Estates neighborhood holding their noses.
“You just get hit with it. Yeah, it was just an assault on the senses, just like a brick wall,” said John Desrosier, who lives across the street from the beach.
The whale washed up in mid-July after it was spotted floating off shore.
Then it washed up on the private beach owned by the Ocean Aire Estates. And at first, it was a sight to see.
“My friends and I came down and my kids were here on vacation,” said Sarah McDonald, who lives here.
But soon the hot summer sun caused the whale to rot and the stench is now unbearable.
“It smelled like death. There’s no other words for it. It was horrible,” said McDonald.
The whale carcass smells so bad that it keeps neighbors up at night. Solving that problem has not been easy until now.
The Plymouth Health Department tells Boston 25 that says that since this is a private beach, it’s up to the homeowner’s association has to remove it. The head of that group, Mike Kelly, spoke to town officials on Thursday.
“It looks like after we talked to him today he’s reaching out to the town of Bourne to dispose of the whale in their landfill,” said Karen Keane, director of the Plymouth Health Department.
Now, neighbors are hopeful the stench will be gone and the sweet smells of summer will soon return.
“That’s awesome. Absolutely, great news,” said Desrosier.
But because this is a private beach, the homeowner’s association will have to foot the bill. And there is no exact timeline on when the whale carcass will be removed.
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