Encinitas lifeguards planned to make a second attempt early Monday at removing the carcass of a huge humpback whale that washed ashore at Grandview Beach in Leucadia, according to authorities.
Attempts at removing the 45-foot-long, 22-ton carcass earlier Sunday failed when two tires on a piece of heavy equipment popped under the pressure of the whale's weight, Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said.
Wally the whale, as he has come to be known, first washed ashore before the Fourth of July weekend in Los Angeles. There have been six previous attempts at towing the carcass offshore from the Los Angeles and Orange County coastline.
National Marine Fisheries officials gave permission to lifeguards to chop the carcass into four pieces, load them into huge dumpsters and take them to the Miramar landfill in San Diego, Giles said.
That effort was to begin at 5 a.m. Monday during low tide.
