DailyDirt: Dead Body Removal

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Apr 26th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

There's the old saying that "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." But how is it that when you have big dead animals to get rid of, people reach for dynamite? Clearly, people just like to blow things up.

The Colorado Forest service wants to remove six frozen cows from a mountain cabin, and they've looked into using explosives to try to get rid of these carcasses. There's a bit of urgency for removing these frozen cows because if they aren't removed soon, they'll thaw out, decay and potentially ruin a popular hot springs attraction nearby. [url]
The infamous "Oregon Whale" isn't an urban legend. In 1970, the Oregon Dept. of Transportation tried to vaporize a beached sperm whale, but the explosion just created a big, smelly mess. [url]
The US Department of Agriculture actually has an official procedure for "Obliterating Animal Carcasses With Explosives" published in 1995. So that makes everything cool—don't forget to put on your goggles. [url]
To find some more bizarre/crazy stuff, check out some things that other StumbleUpon users have found. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: animals, carcasses, colorado, forests, oregon, usda

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2012 @ 5:25pm

Yeah all I saw of that last title on the first read was "Obliterate with Explosives". That would have been an awesome job. How could you get bored obliterating something different every day? Then I saw the animal part, and was not nearly as hopeful. Alas I really need some one to call me back for a job interview.
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Michael Ho (profile), 26 Apr 2012 @ 6:09pm

Re: boredom...
After a while, I'd guess all explosions start to look the same... unless the blasts just got bigger and bigger until you were working on nuclear bombs. But maybe I'm wrong. Good luck on those job searches -- you probably don't want to mention your penchant for explosives too early on in your interviewing process, though.
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RyanNerd (profile), 26 Apr 2012 @ 6:44pm

What I want to know is
Why was the Oregon Department of Transportation given the responsibility of getting rid of the whales. Perhaps it is because roads are big and whales are big therefore we should give the ODOT explosives to deal with the problem?
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Arizona Making Leight, 26 Apr 2012 @ 8:02pm

I am looking for the URL for removing
those who have been in public office far too long by similar methods. Submitted in honor of US Airforce Colonel Albert Thomas Arnott.
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martyburns (profile), 27 Apr 2012 @ 4:50am

Much easier way..
You just have to get Marsellus to call the wolf to come round...
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known coward, 27 Apr 2012 @ 10:01am

the oregon whale
is why the internet was invented. There is no greater story than the orgeon whale. The cheers, then screams as the run for terror, as the blown bits of whale inevitable interaction with gravity, and the splooshing sounds as whale bits crash to the ground, is the single greatest event in the histoy of the internet.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2012 @ 3:19pm

Finally, a solution to removing that plesiosaur carcass from my pond.
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Toot Rue (profile), 1 May 2012 @ 1:16pm

A keg and thou
It would seem a whole lot easier to bring in a big grill and a couple kegs of beer...

Of course, that *and* the explosives and I'll be there in a heartbeat!
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Hancrinum (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 4:38pm

It's like whales who died on a beach. Why bothering to remove the bodies when you can blow them with dynamite. Flesh rain for all
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