Off-the-cuff remark: Why not upload a new version of the image which
is totally blank, and protect it with a note saying that if no
consensus is gained to undelete the image in a month, it should then
be permanently deleted?
Volume. Approximately 1,500 images are deleted every day. It's a
slow enough process when the image is already orphaned, and clearly
meets the requirements for deletion. Adding "blank, protect, and
check back in a month" will just make things that much slower.
(speaking of images, [[Category:Orphaned fairuse images]] has a
backlog of roughly 1800 items right now)