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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRadioactive Boar Are Thriving And Causing Havoc Near The Fukushima Power Plant
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/wild-boar-are-thriving-and-causing-havoc-near-fukushima-power-plant?itok=tiIDEdr5
Its been over five years since tsunami waves crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and led to its nuclear meltdown. While 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the land around the plant remains a dangerous exclusion zone, the area's wildlife is taking full advantage of the peace.
Since the nuclear disaster, the population of wild boars has rocketed, much to the dismay of surrounding communities, The Times has reported. In the four years following the disaster, the population of boars is thought to have boomed from 3,000 to 13,000. You might think this ancient Japanese symbol of prosperity and fertility might be welcomed, but its estimated they have caused $15 million worth of damage to local agriculture.
Assistant ecology professor Okuda Keitokunin told the Japanese Mainichi newspaper that wild boar, along with racoons, have been using the abandoned houses and emptied buildings in the evacuation zone as a place to breed and shelter.
However, this post-nuclear meltdown town isn't exactly a safe haven for the boars. Its thought their diet of roots, nuts, berries and water all contain particularly high concentrations of radiation. The animals show no immediate signs of harm from the radiation, however samples from Fukushima's wild boar meat has shown they contain 300 times the safe amount of the radioactive element caesium-137. Another study on the areas fir trees showed evidence of growth mutations.
Hunters have been offered rewards to cull the boars by local authorities. However, the animals are breeding so quickly they cant keep up. The city of Nihonmatsu, around 56 kilometers (35 miles) from the Fukushima plant, has dug three mass graves capable of holding 1,800 dead boars. Recently, these have become overfilled and authorities are now struggling to cope with the influx of culled beasts.
The boom in boars is a similar story to Chernobyls post-meltdown wildlife. A study from late last year showed that the populations of deer and wild boar are thriving in the area surrounding the Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
In a statement Jim Smith, one of the authors of the Chernobyl study, explained, It's very likely that wildlife numbers at Chernobyl are much higher than they were before the accident. This doesn't mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming, and forestry, are a lot worse.
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"This doesn't mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming, and forestry, are a lot worse. - Says a lot for our species that a radioactive waste land is better for wildlife than human beings are.
Chernobyl has the same situation. It's become a nice wildlife preserve just by removing the human beings.
packman
(16,296 posts)I would expect Glowing Pig Bacon to be on a Japanese menu soon.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)--imm
2naSalit
(86,743 posts)Nitram
(22,845 posts)I doubt boars live long enough to die of cancer contracted from exposure to radiation.
2naSalit
(86,743 posts)to die from extreme exposure, when a animal has a life span of 15 - 20 years, that's plenty of time to get cancer in a continuous exposure environment.
Nitram
(22,845 posts)What would be considered dangerous to a human in terms of developing cancer later might be relatively harmless to an organism with a shorter lifespan.
pintobean
(18,101 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)womanofthehills
(8,746 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)these started out as mere radioactive ants.
(Giant Fire Ants from Fallout: New Vegas, one of my favorite video games.)
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)womanofthehills
(8,746 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)Godzilla vs Boardan!
Mothra vs Boardan!
hunter
(38,322 posts)All in all, I'd rather live in van in the evacuation zone of the Fukushima power plant than some war zone in Syria.
How is it that humans can do amazing things on one hand like landing rockets on barges or building space stations, and on the other hand be blowing one another up because we disagree about gods and ideologies?
And why can't we leave enough of the planet alone that we don't crowd or poison other species to extinction?
Orrex
(63,219 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Not like the pigs care about human folly.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)They need to drop food with birth control in it
NickB79
(19,257 posts)Wolves were native to the islands until they were wiped out a few hundred years ago.
surrealAmerican
(11,362 posts)"Radioactive wolves" might be a great band name, but would radioactive wolves be less problematic than radioactive boars? I guess there'd be fewer of them, but they do range farther.
NickB79
(19,257 posts)And you wouldn't have that problem with wolves. The fact they're radioactive really has nothing to do with the damage they're doing.
Although it's possible the wolves would develop a taste for livestock over time once they got the pigs under control, then you may have to cull the wolf packs from time to time.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)so the pigs and cows and bears could have the planet to themselves.
hunter
(38,322 posts)The choices we humans make are causing a mass extinction event, soon coming to a neighborhood near you.
Anyways, it's a hell of a thing to witness, like a smoker learning they've got lung cancer.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)dembotoz
(16,820 posts)SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)Send in Ted Nugent!
Heeeeers Johnny
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