mammals prior to coming to Prince Edward Island would be an understate- f
ment. However, I quickly realized that marine mammals and marine birds

are a very important group of animals to watch as a means of monitoring

the quality of the environment, more specifically the oceans. I have iD
done my share of autopsies on large animals, such as moose and bisons,

and I have no difficulty in handling dolphins or belugas, as has happened
this past year. But doing the necropsy of a large whale is a very differ-
ent matter. I had my first attempt at it last December, when a thirteen-
meter-long sperm whale beached on the west coast of the Island. I cer-
tainly cannot claim to have done a complete autopsy of this animals, the
main reason being that its blubber, 15 centimeters thick, was frozen

solid. Even a chain saw was of limited use, since the chain would become
quickly clogged with fibrous tissue from the blubber.

With the help of some very dedicated colleagues at the Atlantic veter-
inary College, I managed to make an opening, about one square meter, in
the abdominal cavity of this animal. Because some degree of postmortem de-
composition had set in, the build-up of gases within the abdomen was con-
Siderable. Therefore, as soon as the muscle wall of the abdomen was perfor-
ated, some of the viscera, including the stomach,
several loops of intestine, and the spleen, were
forced out of the opening and prevented further
examination of the abdominal cavity. After three
hours of work and two clogged-up chain saws, the
only observations that I could make were that
the blubber was of normal thickness, the stomach
was empty, and the intestinal tract contained a
moderate amount of ingesta. This may not seem
like much, but it is nonetheless useful infor-
mation. For example, the normal thickness of
the blubber suggested that this animal was in
good body condition and therefore, if sick, had
not been affected by a chronic disease. Further-
more, that appeared to be a full intestinal tract suggested that the ap-
petite of this animal had been good, at least until not too long before
death. Moreover, the empty stomach told me that this animal had not died
from having ingested fish that may have accumulated biotoxins from plank-
ton. This kind of intoxication was reported by researchers at the Ontario
Veterinary College in a group of humpback whales that beached last year on
the east coast of the United States. the only remaining test that, I be-
lieve, would be worthwhile doing is analysis of samples of blubber from
this whale for the possible presence of environmental pollutants, particu-
larly organochlorine compounds. This is something that I have yet to get
done, although the good body condition of this whale would not suggest
that a chronic toxicity problem was present.

This sperm whale was not the first large cetacean to beach on the Is-
land, it is unlikely to be the last, and I firmly intend to get at the
next one that comes along. Again, I strongly believe that study of wild-
life diseases is an important means of monitoring the quality of the en-
vironment, or lack thereof. Considering the present state of the environ-
ment, it is unlikely that people in my position will go out of business.
Honestly, I would love to be proven wrong on this point.

(Pierre-Yves Daoust, DVM, Ph.D, is associate professor of pathology at
the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island. I1-
lustrations were done by Susan Stephenson.)