We’ve always said that no removal job is too big for Two Men and a Truck.

So when the carcass of a humpback whale washed up into a pool on a Sydney beach last month, we contemplated the scale of this moving mission.

Despite the outpouring of sadness over the death of the juvenile male, the 25-ton mass of flesh and blubber put councils and wildlife groups into a logistical predicament.

Its body measured the size of a London double-decker bus. But starting the momentum on this big removal was a different kettle of fish.

Wildlife experts estimated the whale had been dead for up to three days when it washed ashore, so the repugnant smell of the decomposing body called for urgent action.

Towing the whale out to sea would soon see it return to shore, and the carcass was too big to bury on one beach.

So, after a day of discussions, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service dissected the whale, buried the head at the beach and transported the remains to various landfill rubbish tips and burial sites.

Six teams of chainsaw operators,a 14-ton excavator and an undisclosed number of trucks took three hours to remove the whale from the beach.

But just how much cargo is 25-ton whale? We did the maths:

Considering each man carries a 32kg (maximum single-load weight advised by transport industry) to load a large 9-ton truck, here’s the answer:

728 men and 3 large 9-ton trucks.

Now, that’s a mammoth effort!