Officials in Fukuyama, Hiroshima prefecture, said they have stepped up patrols and warned residents not to approach the animal, which was last seen in security footage leaving a plating factory on Sunday. A trail of pawprints discovered by a worker on Monday led to a 3-meter-deep vat of hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing chemical that can induce rashes and inflammation if touched or inhaled, officials said.
Hexavalent chromium, or Chromium-6, is perhaps best known as the carcinogenic chemical featured in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts. The dramatization, based on a real-life legal case, focuses on the titular activist’s fight against a utility company accused of polluting the water in a rural California community, causing increased cancer levels and death among its residents.