A private company today will remove a whale carcass that has been decomposing at Punalu'u Beach Park since last week.

Cates International, working with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, will use an excavator to load the carcass into a dump truck and bury the carcass at Kualoa Ranch, DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said.

The 25-foot-long, 10- to 15-ton carcass is possibly a juvenile humpback, Ward said.

An examination found evidence of dorsal scarring, suggesting the whale had been entangled at one time.

The carcass was first reported Thursday night about 100 yards offshore. A survey Friday morning by a Coast Guard helicopter saw no evidence of sharks and no signs of entangling lines.