A cat to run away from.
Residents of the western Japanese city of Fukuyama have been warned not to touch or even approach a cat that is believed to have fallen into a vat filled with toxic chemicals before fleeing and disappearing into the wild, reports the Guardian.
It was an employee of a metallurgical factory located in Fukuyama who raised the alarm upon arriving at work, after finding a trail of orange-yellow paw prints moving away from a vat of hexavalent chromium (or chrome VI ), a highly acidic carcinogen.
AFP/ Nomura Plating AFP or licensors
Touching this chemical can cause skin inflammation, and inhaling it can lead to respiratory problems.
Factory workers wear masks and rubber gloves when handling the highly harmful substance, the company said, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
Footage captured by the factory's security cameras shows the cat leaving the area at night.
However, no footage shows how the cat came into contact with the chemical, which was stored in a three-meter-deep tank.
Officials in Fukuyama, Japan, have cautioned residents to avoid contact with a cat that is believed to have jumped into a vat of toxic chemicals.
The feline was last seen leaving the Nomura Plating Fukuyama factory, and pawprints leading away from a vat of hexavalent chromium, a… pic.twitter.com/HQ23yBU6wx
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“We immediately alerted the police, the city of Fukuyama and the neighbors close to our factory,” a representative of the Nomura Plating Fukuyama Factory told AFP.
“This incident made us realize the need to take measures to prevent small animals like cats from sneaking out, something we had never anticipated before,” he added.
Residents have been urged to call police immediately if they come across an “abnormal-looking” cat and to keep their distance.
Environmental protection officials in Fukuyama are not ruling out the possibility that the cat may have already died from exposure to the toxic chemical.