Tourism is an important part of small town commerce. However, no one wants their town’s main tourist attraction to be the expanding carcass of a giant blue whale that could explode at any moment. That’s the problem the town of Trout River, Newfoundland experienced when such a carcass washed up on the beach.
Image: Don Bradshaw
The slowly decomposing whale – measuring 81 feet long – wasn’t only concerning because of the methane build up from rotting that could’ve led to an explosion, it was the awful smell plaguing the town.
“[The] whale’s girth has more than doubled and there is a legitimate fear that it could explode,” according to an eCanadaNow.com report. “Now, people are coming to see the spectacle of the greatly expanded blue whale. Some have considered pushing the blue whale back out to sea and letting it become somebody else’s problem. Besides the obvious issue of the town likely lacking the ability to do that, it would put sea vessels at risk.”
For reference – here’s an idea of what an exploding whale (from dynamite) looks like:
If it wasn’t obvious before – exploding whales aren’t exactly something you want to have to deal with.
Luckily for this small town, the whale didn’t end up exploding.
“The first day when it was really starting to bloat, there was a chance. But as the days go on, it’s going to be decomposing more. It’s going to be less of a nice, solid balloon and more of a falling-apart carcass. There will be more and more voids for gas to escape out of. So I think it’ll probably deflate in the next few days,” he told Fusion.net.
