“Lifelike washed-up orca” turns out to be an April Fool’s joke made from papier-mâché: “We worked on it for four weeks”

Anyone who walked around the beach of Sint-André near Koksijde early on Monday morning must have rubbed their eyes quite a bit. Especially from a distance, it looked as if another orca had washed ashore, just as was really the case in October.

Photos on the municipality’s website showing firefighters setting up a perimeter fueled any disbelief. But anyone who looked closer, or thought carefully, knew better: it was an April Fool’s joke. But probably the most successful in the whole of Flanders.

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Paper mache

The idea for the joke came from the municipality, which worked together with the technical department and the carnival group of the former leadership of scouts Casa in Oostduinkerke. “We dressed up as firefighters and put that orca there in the morning,” says Warre Balduck, one of the creators. “We had four weeks of work creating the orca. She is five meters long and one and a half meters high. First we made a skeleton with wooden beams, then chicken wire and finally three layers of paper mache. She is actually very sturdy, the orca even survived our first carnival procession in the pouring rain.”

“On our float we apparently had the two mayors boxing over our orca. Hilarious, and it won us first prize. Anyone who would like to take over the paper orca from the former scout leadership can always make us a proposal,” Warre concludes with a laugh.

Very much appreciated

In any case, the joke was greatly appreciated. Throughout the day, curious people came to look at the false orca to be sure that it was not a real one. And Marc Vanden Bussche, mayor of Koksijde, and Bram Degrieck, mayor of De Panne, also joined in the story. At the end of last year they were still arguing when the real orca Reveil washed ashore, just in De Panne. There was debate about who should have the skeleton.

“It looks like this one is Reveil’s brother and will therefore find his resting place with his brother in De Panne. Agree?” Degrieck handed out a shot to his colleague in Koksijde. “A place has already been provided next to our sperm whale in the new fishing museum,” he said. A successful joke for everyone.