Officials Ponder San Mateo Co. Dead Whale Disposal

HALF MOON BAY (BCN) - Officials still have not decided what they will do with an 80-pound blue whale carcass that washed ashore at Bean Hollow State Park last weekend, a park ranger said Thursday.

"To move it would be an unbelievable task," Supervising State Park Ranger Michael Grant said. "In similar situations we've let winter storms wash them away."

Still, he said, an official decision has not been made about whether to dispose of the carcass.

The whale, a full-grown pregnant female, was first spotted Saturday morning at the southern end of Bean Hollow State Beach, Grant said.

Researchers believe the whale died after colliding with a ship at sea and then washed ashore. The cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma. 

A fetus was found about 30 to 40 feet away.

The investigation is being led by the California Academy of Sciences and is in conjunction with the Marine Mammal Center and the University of California, Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)