In Maine, volunteers pick through a whale of a compost pile

GORHAM, Maine (AP) — Lobster carcasses, dead sea urchins and other “seafood waste” are common ingredients in the compost pile at Benson Farm Earth Products. A 43-foot right whale, not so much.

But the leviathan’s bones were the prize as a team of volunteers from Marine Mammals of Maine arrived at the Gorham farm dug into a smelly, steaming pile of compost, sawdust and whale to extract skeleton pieces including ribs bigger than a person.

The rare and protected whale met its demise after becoming entangled in fishing gear off Boothbay Harbor in September. It was trucked to the farm for composting.

Lynda Doughty, executive director of the nonprofit Marine Mammals of Maine, says she hopes the skeleton can be reassembled as an educational exhibit.