Washington state waterfront owners asked to take dead whales

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PORT HADLOCK, Wash. (AP) — At least one Washington state waterfront landowner has said yes to a request to allow dead gray whales to decompose on their property.

So many gray whale carcasses have washed up this year that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries says it has run out of places to take them.

In response, the agency has asked landowners to volunteer property as a disposal site for the carcasses. By doing so, landowners can support the natural process of the marine environment, and skeletons left behind can be used for educational purposes, officials said.

But the carcasses can be up to 40 feet (12 meters) long. That’s a lot to decay, and it could take months. Landowner Mario Rivera of Port Hadlock, Washington, told KING5-TV that the smell is intermittent and “isn’t that bad.”

“It is really a unique opportunity to have this here on the beach and monitor it and see how fast it goes,” said his wife, Stefanie Worwag.

The federal agency said that about 30 whales have stranded on Washington’s coast this year, the most in two decades.

https://apnews.com/3fa3e9078ff34306bf15d3854634251a

[KT2000]

1. If they own the tidelands

I wonder if they are not automatically in ownership of the whale if it washes up on their beach.
If I find a dead deer in my yard, it is my responsibility to dispose of it according the State of Washington.