10 trucks, dozens of people needed to move whale

IT took heavy machinery, 10 trucks and dozens of people but the remains of a sperm whale that died at South Ballina last week have arrived at the Lismore Waste Management Centre.

A Lismore City Council spokesman confirmed that "the eagle has landed".

The 54-tonne marine mammal had to be divided into 10 different pieces and loaded into 10 trucks, that made a very smelly procession of trucks into Lismore.

By 4pm, seven of those trucks had made it to the Lismore Waste Management Centre, where the whale carcass will be put into landfill.

Dolphin Marine Rescue vet Duan March and wildlife officer Kieran Marshall inspect from Coffs Harbour inspect the sperm shale carcass at Patches beach.

The adult male sperm whale was found on Friday at Patchs Beach, South Ballina, where it died soon after.

The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) - Crown Lands, NSW National Parks and Wildlife and Soil Conservation Service in Ballina have all been involved in the process.

On Tuesday, authorities launched an appeal to the local community for information into the disappearance of the jaw of a sperm whale at Patchs Beach in South Ballina.

In NSW, it is illegal to approach marine mammals, even when dead, and to remove parts of the animal, under the NSW Biodiversity and Conservation Act 2016.

A National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) spokeswoman condemned the illegal removal of part of the jaw from the deceased sperm whale.