Local residents in Muri have been concerned at the delay in the disposal of a whale carcass which was brought ashore last Friday morning.

No action was taken until yesterday (Monday) morning when the whale was finally buried nearby.

Concerned neighbours had made several phone calls to various government agencies on Friday asking for assistance to dispose of the whale before the weekend.

A resident in the area – in front of Motu Taakoka towards Tikioki – said the whale was brought over the reef by high seas.

“We could see the shape of it out near the reef, and on Friday morning when we woke up there it was lying on the beach,” she said.

“It had already started to decompose.”

On Saturday morning another resident said, “maybe if the whale had landed right in front of the big resorts in Muri for all the tourists to smell and see, someone would have disposed of it straightway, when it’s us locals this is just typical attitude from some of our government agencies…who cares about us locals, we can wait…”

Halatoa Fua, director of the Cook Islands National Environment Service (NES), said “the disposal of the whale carcass falls across different jurisdictions in Government given the location of the whale carcass and the machinery required to conduct the disposal process.”

Fua said the whale carcass has been floating at sea for a while and that a necropsy (examination of an animal after death) was impossible due to the state of its decomposed body.

Several disposal methods were considered including towing the whale carcass back out to sea, disposal of it at the landfill, or to bury the whale at the beach through a monitored process.

“Given the terrain of the location, surrounding reefs and the state of the whale’s decomposed body, burying it near its location needed to be conducted to contain any impact to human health and the surrounding environment,” said Fua.

NES issued an emergency approval under Section 53 of the Environment Act 2003, he said.

“This matter has now been addressed and resolved,” said Fua.

A local fisherman said he saw the whale carcass floating in the ocean, straight out from Taakoka, on Wednesday

Several fishermen benefited from the whale carcass, which attracted hundreds of fish, allowing them to land full boats.

For future occurrences of this nature, the community is advised to contact the Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) or the National Environment Service (NES).