60,000-pound whale carcass removed from California beach

April 29, 2016 at 4:27 p.m. | Updated April 29, 2016 at 4:30 p.m.

by Associated Press

Crews use earth-moving equipment to begin removing a massive gray whale carcass from Southern California's San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente, Calif., Thursday, April 28, 2016. The whale washed ashore Sunday at a famous surf break called Lower Trestles north of downtown San Diego. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
Crews use earth-moving equipment to begin removing a massive gray whale carcass from Southern California's San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente, Calif., Thursday, April 28, 2016. The whale washed ashore Sunday at a famous surf break called Lower Trestles north of downtown San Diego. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) - It literally was a whale of a job, but crews have finished removing the 60,000-ton carcass of a rotting whale from a Southern California beach.

The last remnants of the 40-foot gray whale were removed Friday from a beach near San Clemente.

The Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/1XYwAPb ) says the end of the two-day, $30,000 project included skimming the top layer of sand off the Lower Trestles beach where the whale washed ashore on Sunday.

That's to eliminate any contaminated sand from the mammal's body fluids.

The whale was a tourist attraction for a few days. Despite an overpowering stench, some people skipped work or school to snap photos with the towering carcass.

The remains of the whale were trucked to a San Diego County landfill.

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