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.

Comments

quoth the radioactive boar:

[neko the frog]

GET OUT OF HERE STALKER

It's actually a good thing!

[Just_Say_Duhhh]

Germany could market these as "Self-Cooking Boar!"

Too lazy to cook? No fuel for your stove? No problem - just shoot, wrap in foil, and a few hours later...DINNER!

Dusterwaldkeiler

[Improv]

Ahh, reminds me of my Magic: The Gathering days... cast "Wild Growth" on the "Dusterwaldkeiler" and goodbye to enemy "Serra Angel"s. Muhaha

What?????

[Dynedain]

I'm having trouble understanding how the Cherynobl meltdown has anything to do with wild boar populations in southern Germany. The article specifically mentions Bavaria, a region a thousand miles (and several countries) away. I admit I'm just an ignorant American, but surely this doesn't make any sense?

Re:What?????

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's something that will really baffle your puny American mind:

http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/livestock/scotland%E2%80%99s-chernobyl-sheep-no-longer-radioactive/32935.article

Re:What?????

[arose]

Fallout, it doesn't stay in their backyard.

Re:What?????

[kav2k]

Look for fallout maps. Example, this one

Re:What?????

[rrohbeck]

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.

Re:What?????

[ColdWetDog]

I'm just as clueless...

Just a idea. Sit down. Have a drink. Now don't get mad at me or all stressed out, I know it's hard to deal with new things. Just consider to concept at least:

Read the Fucking Article.

Re:What?????

[Grishnakh]

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.

Re:What?????

[Man On Pink Corner]

Even if we go nuclear in the interim, we still have the waste storage issue to deal with for hundreds of years...not anything we've even considered in terms of cost.

I know! We can aerosolize our radioactive waste and spew it out into the the atmosphere, where it can kill people hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the site. You know, like coal plants are doing right now.

The solution to pollution is dilution, right?

There is some good news

[GammaKitsune]

At least the Yao Guai and Deathclaw populations remain at normal levels.

Must... stop...

[DdJ]

...must not make "Peter Porker" joke...

Re:fraud?

[h4rr4r]

Because untainted boar meat is far more valuable?

Re:The mind boggles

[natehoy]

And, yes, such an animal exists. They are called "boar."

(see also "sheep" in the UK, which have the same issue with Chernobyl fallout, and "reindeer" in certain Nordic regions, not to mention carnivores in a lot of places)

Lichen (aka. reindeer chow), fungi (loved by boar) and certain other plants (probably including the grasses or some other plant that sheep eat a lot of) are apparently great radioactivity concentrators.

Fortunately, C137 has a half life of about 30 years, not tens of thousands, so in a few hundred years the radioactivity remaining in most animals should be low enough that this isn't a problem any more. As long as we keep building reactors safely and running them to standards such that they don't blow up, we'll only glow when it's REALLY dark.