Sick seal pups
If you find or see a sick or exhausted seal or whale, please do not touch it. Contact the nearest unit of Naturstyrelsen (the Danish Nature Agency) or call the Fisheries and Maritime Museum on +45 76 12 20 00.
Both the Danish Nature Agency and the Fisheries and Maritime Museum are a part of the National Contingency Plan concerning strandings of marine mammals in Denmark.
Their responsibilities include the quick humane killing of sick and exhausted seals and whales.
Dead seals and whales
Please contact us if you find a dead seal or whale on the beach. Remember to take a photo of the animal and write with details of where you found it. You can contact the Fisheries and Maritime Museum by telephone or email on +45 76 12 20 00 or fimus@fimus.dk. You can also contact the nearest local Danish Nature Agency office.
The Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Aarhus University and the Danish Nature Agency are all part of the National Contingency Plan for stranded marine mammals. They collect some of the dead seals and whales. The animals are examined for diseases and cause of death at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. We can learn a lot about the marine environment by studying dead marine mammals. Therefore, tissue samples are also taken to be used in research and monitoring projects. Selected skeletons from stranded seals and whales are conserved by the Fisheries and Maritime Museum and the Natural History Museum. These skeletons are added to the two museums’ collections and contribute to research and to educating the general public.

If you find a sick seal
Do not touch it!
If you see a sick or exhausted seal on the beach, leave it alone and contact the Fisheries and Maritime Museum on tel. +45 76 12 20 00 or the nearest local Danish Nature Agency office.
If you have more general questions about marine mammals, you are welcome to contact Charlotte Bie Thøstesen, the Fisheries and Maritime Museum’s natural history curator.