Residents of a town in Canada listed the body of a 40-foot Sperm whale carcass on the online auction site eBay.
The locals at Cape St. George on Newfoundland’s west coast had become so fed up after nothing had been done about the body of the 25-tonne mammal, which washed up more than a week ago, they decided to auction it off in eBay's 'really weird' section, reports Canada.com
However, the listing had to be taken down after it was found not only to be against eBay's rules — which prohibits the sale of items made from marine mammals — but also against the law, as selling any parts of a Sperm whale, whether dead or alive, is illegal.
The original eBay listing read:
"This 40-foot Sperm whale rolled up on the beach last week. The actual seller is the town of Cape St. George which is responsible for disposing of it before it starts to decay. Once the fat and flesh is removed you have a spectacular 40-foot skeleton of the largest toothed whale in the world, great for museums and other attractions. To prevent it rotting in the town it can be towed to isolated beaches on the Port au Port Peninsula to allow the seagulls and other birds to remove the flesh. Please note the successful bidder will have to remove the whale within 30 days."
Bidding had started at 99c and had passed the $2,000 mark by the time the listing was taken down.
In Newfoundland, animal carcasses are the responsibility of the municipality they wash up in, but the town has neither the funds or equipment to dispose of the dead whale, so it looks as if the residents of Cape St George are stuck with a 40-foot rotting corpse unless a museum or other organisation comes forward to preserve its bones for display.
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