After complaints of an impending stink and potential shark problems, a blue whale buried on Faria Beach in September was dug up and moved this week to a Santa Barbara dump.

Three feet of sand had eroded in recent weeks from the whale's burial site. It had exposed chunks of the 70-foot rotting carcass, and officials feared more of the whale would be exposed during winter storms.

"A decision was made that if we had to pay to bury it deeper, we might as well dig it up and haul it away," said Ron Van Dyck, deputy director of the Ventura County Parks Department, which oversaw the removal. "It's a never-ending story."

The cost of Monday's and Tuesday's work to remove the carcass was about $18,000, he said.

Filling four dump trucks with 70 tons of rotting flesh was a blow to the senses.

"One of the equipment operators got sick, that's how much it smelled," Van Dyck said. "It was not a pleasant experience."

Burying marine mammals that wash onto shore is a common exercise. Other whales, including a 50-foot gray, have been buried on nearby beaches and never been a problem, said county Supervisor Steve Bennett.

But the size of the blue whale, combined with the beach it was buried on, presented a special set of unanticipated problems, Bennett said.

The beach is relatively narrow and covered at high tide. Rip-rap rocks used to shore up the Pacific Coast Highway make the beach relatively shallow, which didn[']t allow workers to bury the behemoth very deep.

Neighbors feared the whale would become unearthed, stinking up the beach and attracting sharks who smelled the rotting flesh. Some shark researchers believe burying whales in the tide line does attract sharks, although it's not clear whether that leads to increased attacks.

Regardless, the neighbors were happy the carcass was gone.

"I am as happy as I can be," said George Weinstock, president of the Solimar Beach Colony Homeowners Association. "I think everyone began to realize this thing was mishandled from the beginning."

The whale was towed to the beach after it made landfall on some rocks at nearby Hobson beach. After towing, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History extricated the skull so it can be displayed. The oily bones are slowly drying in the sun. The museum doesn't want to sort through the rest of the bones at the dump, said spokeswoman Easter Moorman.

County officials said it was a learning experience for the next time a massive blue whale washes ashore.

"I'm sure we'll be rethinking our burying process," Van Dyck said.