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The Infamous Exploding Whale

By Alex in Animal, Video Clips on Jul 17, 2007 at 11:27 pm


In November 1970, the Oregon State Highway Division got a whale of a problem: a dead 45-foot 8-ton whale was found washed up in a beach near Florence, Oregon.

So, what did they decide to do to get rid of it:

.. [The carcass] couldn’t be cut up and then buried because no one wanted to cut it up. And it couldn’t be burned. So dynamite it was, some 20 cases or a half ton of it. The hope was that the long dead Pacific gray whale would be almost disintegrated by the blast and that small pieces still around after the explosion would be taken cared of by seagulls and other scavengers …

Here’s the infamous exploding whale video clip – see what happened: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Arturo Fernández!


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COMMENT
  1. Chad Cloman
    Jul 18th, 2007 at 3:47 am

    That was great!

  2. Stuart
    Jul 18th, 2007 at 6:12 am

    Now that's an American solution!

  3. Solo
    Jul 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    This method has been since adopted by the highway cleaners, this is how they get rid of roadkill on Oregon now.

  4. Chris
    Jul 18th, 2007 at 2:27 pm

    old but still LOL.
    when I see that video, I always recheck that link for a good second laugh:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4096586/

    aaaahhh... exploding animals and satellizing squirrels... life is good...

  5. dooflotchie
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    So was I the only one who watched this and wondered why they didn't just tow the carcass out to sea and drop it?

  6. geofa
    Nov 29th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Because the tide would just have washed it ashore again?

  7. Stubb
    Nov 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    Money, I think. Since no one wanted to cut it up (at whatever price the city was offering) I'm guessing no one wanted to wrap a dead, rotting, 8-ton whale in chains and then haul it out to sea. Dynamite was cheaper.

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