HILO >> A badly decayed whale carcass about 35 to 40 feet long has washed ashore in the Big Island’s Puna district.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported today the whale is too far away from the road to be towed away and too far away from the ocean to be pulled out to sea. 

Officials are hoping the whale will either decompose at the remote site near the Wai Opae tidepools, or be carried away by high tide. 

Marine biologists believe the same carcass — believed to be of a humpback whale — showed up partially submerged against the Hilo breakwater on March 6.

David Schofield, a marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says the whale has been on and off the reef for a couple of weeks.