3ds Max :: Viral Orphaned Animation Layer Data

we are seeing "orphaned" animation layer data hanging around in our files. even in a totally empty file, it accounts for about 30mb of data, and it slows down loadingsaving. we suspect it came from a client asset at some point, but unfortunately it carries over even on merge so it has propagated quite quickly to a large number of our assets.

using maxscript to access the animLayer manager to delete these does not work either.. (it will remove a few of the layers, but others generate a runtime error) here's a snippet from the listener:

for i = 2 to animLayerManager.getLayerCount() do animLayerManager.deleteLayer i

-- Error occurred in i loop
-- Frame:
-- i: 18
-- Runtime error: Blend Euler As Quat

in max 2010, at the very least we were able to use "File-->New.. Keep Objects and Heirarchy", which would leave this data behind at the expense of removing all other keyed animation data in the scene as well. this doesn't seem to work in 2012.

attached is a screenshot from the trackview (only place i know to see it--the Animation Layer Toolbar does not see them). i would attach a file as well, but even compressed it is 24mb..