Volunteers are sifting through the mud in Western Hungary to rescue animals caught up in the industrial spill.
Farm animals and pets were left behind after inhabitants of the village of Kolontar and parts of Devecser were evacuated.
Even in the surrounding forests animals were badly affected by the sludge which has a Ph level of over 13 and can cause severe burns.
Animals such as hedgehogs are seeking shelter underneath bushes and could die from contact with the toxic substance. Activists are now finding and cleaning them.
Rescue workers also found cows on a farm in Kolontar that had not been fed for days when they reached them. The farm, like many others in the area, had been abandoned.
This comes as Hungary’s prime minister blamed “human negligence” for the toxic sludge spill that killed at least seven people last week.