A fin whale beached in Slack’s Cove on Sunday. Officials buried the animal in a nearby forest on Thursday.A fin whale beached in Slack’s Cove on Sunday. Officials buried the animal in a nearby forest on Thursday. (CBC)

A 15-metre-long whale that beached near Rockport, N.B., on Chignecto Bay was buried Thursday in a forested area just up from the beach in Slack's Cove.

Heavy machinery was brought in to dig the hole and lift the whale, said an official with the provincial Natural Resources Department.

It took crews hours to bury the creature, which officials from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans believed to be a fin whale.

Officials decided it would be easier to bury the carcass than tow it back out to sea because of the strong tides in Chignecto Bay, which could have just washed the 50-tonne animal back onto land.

The New Brunswick Museum is also now expressing interest in studying the whale, which was found on Sunday.