Rampaging Radioactive Wild Boars Wreak Havoc Around Fukushima


To help stem the problem, the Japanese government is actually encouraging hunting parties to go out and kill these boars. And while it’s been somewhat effective, it’s created another problem. They’re running out of room to burry them.

Adding to the problem is the fact that local cities have been running out of burial space for boars. In the city of Nihonmatsu, some 56 kilometers from the Fukushima plant, three mass graves large enough to hold 600 boars each are reportedly almost full, with the local government saying it has run out of spare land. Local hunters have even been reduced to burying the corpses on their own premises.

Authorities have also been burning boar corpses in municipal incinerators, but the task of cutting up animals weighing 100 kilograms each to get them into the furnace is not a dream job, and there is a shortage of personnel capable of performing the task.

Despite boar meat being considered a delicacy in northern Japan, the meat of wild boars from Fukushima area is not suitable for human consumption because it contains high concentrations of radioactive substances. Normally one of the healthiest red meats, very high in protein, Fukushima’s wild boars have become quite the opposite of “healthy nutrition,” as they normally eat roots, nuts, berries and smaller animals from the forest floor, which is where the highest levels of radioactive fallout, typically  washed down by the rain, is concentrated. The radioactive element caesium-137 has been reportedly discovered in animals from the area at levels 300 times higher than the regulatory standard for human consumption. Local authorities have been issuing warnings to residents asking them to refrain from eating boar meat.

 

There is no evidence so far that the health of the boars has been affected by exposure to radiation, but studies have found evidence of damage in smaller animals, like rats, as well as plants. In high radiation areas, DNA damage has also been discovered in earthworms, and growth mutations have been identified in fir trees, the Times reports.

Go ahead, eat the radioactive boar meat. Apparently they’ve learned nothing from Japanese cinema. On a more serious note, a study by Stanford University in CA, concluded that about 130 people might die as a result of cancers caused by the Fukushima disaster.

Source: rt.com

 



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