An autopsy of the dead humpback whale known as "Timmy" is set for next week, Danish authorities announced on Saturday.
The post-mortem examination will begin on Thursday afternoon and is expected to take around six hours, the Danish Nature Agency said.
The dead whale - which was previously the focus of months of headlines in Germany after repeatedly getting stranded on the Baltic coast - has been drifting in the water off the Danish island of Anholt for more than two weeks.
On Saturday morning, a livestream by the News5 broadcaster showed a vehicle slowly dragging the bloated carcass out of shallow water by a rope onto the beach, leaving behind a deep furrow in the sand.
Some locals on the popular tourist island, which has around 150 residents, have expressed frustration at the attention and the presence of the carcass on one of the main beaches, while others say it is becoming a practical nuisance during the tourist season.
The Danish environmental protection agency urged people not to approach the whale as there is a risk of infection.
"Because the animal has been lying in the sun for so long, it will smell terribly," said whale researcher Peter Teglberg Madsen, who has been assisting with whale autopsies in Denmark for 25 years. "It will be quite overwhelming if you’re not used to it."
Authorities previously abandoned an attempt to tow the whale into deeper water so they could bring it into a harbour on the mainland.
Danish officials have warned the public that the carcass - which is swollen with decomposition gases - is at risk of exploding.
Madsen said the main aim of the autopsy was to determine the cause of death, "because the discussion has largely centred on whether the whale could have been saved or not."
They will also look for evidence of fishing gear or plastic in the animal’s digestive system, as such factors have contributed to several humpback whale deaths in Danish waters in recent years.
The whale attracted international attention after repeatedly becoming stranded in shallow waters along the Baltic coast of Germany.
Following several failed rescue attempts and despite expert warnings, German authorities approved a private initiative to transport the whale and release it into the North Sea. It was later found dead near Anholt.
Madsen believes the rescue attempt was "pure animal cruelty." He said the whale was "obviously a sick, emaciated animal that could not be saved, and they should simply have left it in peace."
Instead, an animal that had never lived in captivity was confined in a metal box and towed across the sea for days on end by rescue workers, the researcher said.
"It was tossed about by the waves, exposed to the noise of the engines, only to be simply dumped into the sea – that must have been incredibly stressful and frightening for the animal."
