The member of a U.K.-based conservation group woke up on January 11th to find that an enormous young sperm whale had been swept onto the shore of her neighborhood in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation representative Sarah Dolman told Yahoo News that the rare sight was a complete shock to her and fellow residents.
"There was a general feeling of excitement, but also sadness, and several people I spoke to were moved to tears," she wrote in a blog post online.
Citizens living in the area were both intrigued and baffled by the 26-ton male sperm whale's carcass, which measured to be about 45 feet long. From a scientific standpoint, the mysterious mammal of the deep's wash up to shore presented an opportunity to study more about the majestic creature.
But from a practical standpoint, the city hadn't the faintest idea what to do - here was a massive, rotting carcass that couldn't be buried or towed to sea, as is usually done in these kinds of situations.
Authorities decided to tow the remains from Portobello Beach in Joppa, to a harbor in Fife, Yahoo reported. The carcass was then raised by crane into the bed of a truck that transported it to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme in Dunbar.
Medical examiners performed an autopsy on the sperm whale's body that indicated the cause of death was not due to a boat. Officials are still unsure of the official cause of death.
"Detailed postmortem results will take some time, but initial findings were that the whale didn't die due to any obvious human-induced cause," Dolman wrote. "He had evenly spaced tooth rake marks on the front of his head, suggesting various interactions with whales about his size."
