The dead humpback whale ­ what's left of it, anyway ­ floated in on last night's high tide, coming to rest on a sliver of beach within sniffing distance of Kamehameha Highway, just north of the ruins of sugar mill smoke stack at Kualoa Ranch.

"We are trying to move it but we haven't been able to find the resources," said Jeff Walters of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' division of aquatic resources. "This thing is big. We need something big. We either have to have a crane to lift it up whole or something to cut it up."

The dead whale was first spotted Wednesday on a reef about 100 yards offshore. Its presence prompted land use officials to post signs warning beachgoers to stay out of the water because of the possibility of sharks.

"People should be advised that if there is a big dead thing out in the ocean, well, sharks eat anything and that makes it possible that sharks could be in the area," said Lt. Pat Kelly, a lifeguard with the city's North Shore substation.

The signs remained up today, but Walters said the carcass is so decomposed that even sharks probably don't want it.

He hopes to have a private contractor haul it away before tonight's high tide.

"It's tied up, but there will be another high tide tonight and it will slosh around there," Walters said. "The bulk of it will stay put. We hope."

A back-hoe could be used to chop up the carcass and anyone getting close to it will have to wear a special protective suit. Then it will be taken to the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, where animals have occasionally been buried.

"We still have to make arrangements with the landfill," Walters said. "This isn't exactly what they are used to dealing with."