"Out, damned spot"

Getting rid of a dead blue whale is proving no easy feat.

More than a week after a 70-foot whale carcass was hauled out to sea, the creature’s putrid remains washed back to shore.

The whale was initially found last month floating in the Santa Barbara Channel. Scientists pulled it ashore to test the remains and establish how it died. On Sept. 22, after declaring the rare sea giant died in a collision with a ship, they towed the carcass about 10 miles out to sea.

But on Sunday, the dead whale washed onto Broad Beach in Malibu. Lifeguards quickly towed the stinking remains back into the ocean, but were concerned the carcass could wash ashore again.

“We just wish the darned thing would sink,” wildlife biologist Joe Cordaro said.