BREAKING: Radioactive Boars On The Loose In Germany

[Renew Deal]

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

(Soundbite of wild boar)

BLOCK: That is a wild boar, and I'm Melissa Block.

We often present what we call cute critter stories on this program. This isn't one of them. Rather, this is about radioactive wild pigs in Germany. These wild boars eat mushrooms contaminated by the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of a quarter century ago.

Charles Hawley, editor of Spiegel Online International, joins us from Berlin to explain. Charles Hawley, how much of a problem are these wild boars?

Mr. CHARLES HAWLEY (Editor, Spiegel Online International): Well, the wild boar problem has certainly been growing in recent years. The population has been skyrocketing. The number of wild boars is estimated to be around 2.5 million in Germany, and the numbers of those shot by hunters has more than doubled in the last two years.

So there are certainly a lot of wild boars, and as they multiply, they come into contact with humans more often.

BLOCK: What kind of contact?

Mr. HAWLEY: Well, there are stories of them bursting into supermarkets. Occasionally, they'll break up a church meeting. Quite often they'll be causing car accidents, that kind of thing.

BLOCK: And they're radioactive to boot.

Mr. HAWLEY: Quite a few of them are indeed radioactive, mostly in southern Germany. That was sort of the major fallout zone of the Chernobyl disaster, and so as a result, there's quite a bit of radioactivity still in the ground.

BLOCK: So they're not getting more and more radioactive, it's just that there are more and more boars, is that it?

Mr. HAWLEY: Yeah, part of the problem is yes, there's more and more boars, which accounts for an absolute increase in numbers of radioactive boars, but those who live in the forest particularly are eating mushrooms and truffles. And as the radiation sort of sinks into the earth, the roots of truffles and mushrooms tend to collect them more.

So there is actually a slight increase in the amount of radioactivity in mushrooms and truffles in Germany, which accounts for boars in the forest certainly becoming more radioactive.

BLOCK: Aha. Well, what is Germany doing about this?

Mr. HAWLEY: There's not much you can do about it. Certainly the hunters who have a certain responsibility for keeping the boar population down are being compensated by the government for meat they are not able to sell because it's too radioactive.
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129008757

:hide:

[snooper2]

1. Mmkay, glow in the dark...

and the people handling them are wearing suits but no gloves..

and a little of the "glow-in-the-dark" got rubbed on the inside leg on the one on the left...

Mkay.. :eyes:

[Politicalboi]

2. LOL!

I wonder how come it's mostly on their nose and not around their mouths. Pigs must be clean eaters. LOL! I wouldn't doubt that wildlife and people have radiation in them from the fall out, but this, may be a hoax.

[Myrina]

3. probably from rooting ...

... pigs are natural 'trufflers' -- snorting around looking for the delectible (but not radioactive) morsels ...

[Brickbat]

4. Sounds like the problem is the boars themselves, and not the radioactivity so much.

[Evasporque]

5. I thought you were talking about Fox & Friends....lol

[Quantess]

6. Interesting.

[snooper2]

7. kick

for whatever reason :rofl: