What do you do with a dead whale? You treat it with much more respect than leaving it out in a parking lot in Rye, New Hampshire, hopefully.
After a minke whale washed ashore off the coast between Rye and the Isle of Shoals earlier this week, the 2-ton mammal simply lay on the beach where it had first made landfall. It remained there until it was taken away to a dumpster, where the idea was to contain the once-magnificent animal until it could be transported to a special facility for a necropsy. Researchers at the New England Aquarium would then assist in figuring out just how the whale passed away in the first place.
A dead whale that flopped off the side of a dumpster because it didn’t fit spent last night in the parking lot of Jenness Beach in Rye #NH. The state finally delivered a bigger dumpster this a.m. to haul the whale to a composting site for an autopsy. https://t.co/bcDqGGFTSC pic.twitter.com/vIo49tB27c
— Jason Schreiber (@Schreibernews) September 18, 2018
Unfortunately, its trip to containment was more like a humiliating spectacle: A loader tried fitting the whale into the dumpster, failed, and instead flopped the dead whale onto the pavement. It was not a pretty sight.
Then, as the whale awaited a new, larger dumpster, it sat out in the parking lot overnight. Once it was placed in the new container, it was then transported to a new location where marine biologists will study its remains. Afterward, the whale’s corpse will be composted.
As morbid as the situation is and as unfortunate as the poor animal has been treated, people are still finding humor in the situation.
Please tell me the headline was "A Whale of a Fail"
— Jed Peterson (@saidthelawyer) September 19, 2018
Is the guy working the lift name Peter Griffin by any chance?
— Sean (@smcd8316) September 20, 2018
WORD TRAILER
In a world…
where our lowest expectation and greatest fears are not enough.
Comes a word…
to fuse in a new portmanteau our disgust, disappointment, and despondency.[zoom effect]
DUMPSTER. FAIL. WHALE.[whisper]
Coming too soon to a reality near you.— Llessur Llihgdots (@llessur) September 20, 2018
did the operator think the whale would just fold in the middle and go in?
— Dave More (@omgdaveshere) September 19, 2018
Maybe we shouldn’t be laughing, but we totally are.
— Kasey Weinert (@kweinerwithAt) September 20, 2018
This isn't that difficult. Buy a tape measure!
— DivingDancer (@DivingDancer) September 19, 2018
They thought it would fit?
— Andrew Miller (@heyapm) September 19, 2018
Who knew that whale carcass disposal is the responsibility of literally any jerkoff with a bulldozer
— soccer_sucks_74 (@moltke_helmuth) September 20, 2018
Others are understandably appalled.
This is shameful & no way to treat any animal
— mark batch (@dexcat63) September 19, 2018
This is filling me with unfettered rage.
— Jeremy Timko (@JeremyTimko) September 19, 2018
What is wrong with people?
— Taylor Tae (@TaylorTae1) September 19, 2018
Seriously guys….
— Tony Naro (@TNaro) September 19, 2018
A dead whale was treated like an enormous piece of garbage, which is abhorrent. The only thing left to do is try and make peace with it.
great. This is what 2018 has come to
— Eric 🇷🇺follow back (@416eric) September 18, 2018
Honestly, there’s no better analogy for 2018.