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Radioactive Boar On the Rise In Germany
Germans who go out in the woods today are sure of a big surprise, radioactive boars. A portion of the wild boar population in Germany was irradiated after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, and the boars are thriving. In the last two years government payments to compensate hunters for radioactive boar have quadrupled. From the article: "According to the Environment Ministry in Berlin, almost €425,000 ($555,000) was paid out to hunters in 2009 in compensation for wild boar meat that was too contaminated by radiation to be sold for consumption. That total is more than four times higher than compensation payments made in 2007." I think the Germans are overlooking just how much money there is to be made from regenerating bacon.
Never heard of fallout?
Hunters also have to pay a fee to dispose of the boar carcass. So some let the animal go to a neighboring territory where the animals can be shot to be eaten.
Look for fallout maps. Example, this one
I guess you weren't around back then.
There was no fresh milk, fruit or vegetables for some time in most of central, east and northern Europe because everything had to be tested and much had to be trashed. People were warned against collecting berries and mushrooms for years.
The radioactive cloud went northwest to Scandinavia first and then southward to Central Europe.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
No, it's thanks to the Russian designers and managers who decided to build a crappy and unsafe nuclear plant.
Germany is next-door to France, which has tons of nuclear plants, and sells lots of power to the rest of Europe. In fact, you might be using nuclear-generated power from France right now, since you're so close to them. How many disasters has France had with their nuclear plants? Zero?
Cars can be very dangerous too, for instance if you put the gas tank in a place where it will rupture and explode in a small collision (like the Ford Pinto). Should we stop making all cars because of this? No, of course not; we stop making crappy, unsafe cars like the Pinto.
BTW, I don't think the nuclear lobby had anything to do with nuclear plants in the Soviet Union. They didn't have lobbyists there, and environmental concerns weren't very important to Communist ideology.
Wild boars cause incredible crop damage to farmers in Germany. In areas with a large wild boar population, farmers pay hunters a token fee to keep the damage at a minimum. Most of the hunters' compensations comes from selling the meat to restaurants. It's a delicacy and tastes delicious. The Frischlinge (baby wild boars) taste quite outstanding.
To hunt boars in America it takes cunning, patience, stealth, patience, an uncanny knowledge of the boars' habitat, a good aim, and more patience.
In Germany, the wild boar hunter builds a small tower at the edge of a farmer field. He then crawls up there with his weapon, and a thermos of coffee in the evening. At then waits for a wild boar to show up. And waits. And waits. And waits. So your comment about "patience" is the same for hunters in Germany. Being a outstanding shot, and being able to keep quiet in the hunter tower are nice traits to have as well.
So the reason why the German government is compensating them, is that if they can't sell the meat, the whole endeavor isn't worth it anymore. And the wild boars are considered pests (varmints).
In the northern part of Germany, they have a problem with rats, that chew their way through the dikes. Bad news if there is a flood. So old, retired men keep themselves busy by killing the rats, and get paid something like 5€ per rat tail by the government.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!