Photo: The Canadian Press

A rotting, putrid whale remains lodged on a Newfoundland beach, as a picturesque seaside town tries to come up with a plan to get rid of it.

The dead humpback washed ashore in Outer Cove, just north of St. John's, N.L., on Monday, drawing a crowd keen to see both it and a nearby iceberg.

Officials had hoped the whale would leave with the tide, but the town is now forced to find a way to get rid of it.

The Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove town council held a meeting Wednesday night to talk about their options.

Mayor John Kennedy says they've been having a difficult time navigating the provincial bureaucracy.

He says both options — towing it away to a new location or disposing of it where it is — require approval from different government agencies, but he hopes to have it gone by next week.

"Someone get a whale removal machine to Outer Cove beach because yuck b'y," Kerri MacDonald, a TV writer from neighbouring Middle Cove, tweeted Thursday.