Date: Tue, 19 Mar, 1996
Grounded whale full of heavy metals

COPENHAGEN, (Reuter) - A sperm whale found dead off the Danish coast last January contained so much mercury and cadmium that its intestine had to be buried at a special dangerous waste site, local North Jutland Radio said on Tuesday.
"The amount of cadmium was 20 times higher and the quantity of mercury double that normally found in fish," waste company director Leo Theander told the radio.

Surprised investigators are now trying to ascertain the source of the high concentration of toxic metals and whether or not they killed the animal. The whale's intestines alone weighed 1.5 tonnes, but no details were given on its age, sex or total body weight.
"It is strange and alarming, for the whale must have eaten it shortly before dying," Theander added.

The mammal swam, or was washed, ashore at the northernmost tip of the Jutland peninsula, which juts into the Kattegat and Skagerrak sounds between Denmark, Sweden and Norway.



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