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A Quarter Century after Chernobyl- Radioactive Boar on the Rise in Germany
Spiegel Online ^ | 30 July 2010 | Charles Hawley

Posted on 08/04/2010 7:48:29 AM PDT by Palter

As Germany's wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007.

It's no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed for hours after 10 wild boar broke through a fence and waltzed onto the road.

Even worse, though, almost a quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, a good chunk of Germany's wild boar population remains slightly radioactive -- and the phenomenon has been costing the German government an increasing amount of money in recent years.

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.

'Boar Boom'

The reason for the climbing payments, of course, has more to do with Germany's skyrocketing wild boar population than with an increase in radioactive contamination. "In the last couple of years, wild boar have rapidly multiplied," a spokesman from the Environment Ministry confirmed to SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Not only is there more corn being farmed, but warmer winters have also contributed to a boar boom."

Numbers from the German Hunting Federation confirm the population increase.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: boar; chernobyl; germany; radioactive

1 posted on 08/04/2010 7:48:31 AM PDT by Palter
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To: Palter

Don’t see the causation or correlation.


2 posted on 08/04/2010 7:50:58 AM PDT by goseminoles
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To: Palter

Use them to drive the mu*lims out of Germany.


3 posted on 08/04/2010 7:53:55 AM PDT by Frantzie (Television controls the American people/sheep)
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To: Palter

Germany has too many radioactive wild boar? Sounds like a great export opportunity.

I know a place in NY, and another in Mecca, that both desperately need a visit from rampaging incontinent irradiated tuskers.


4 posted on 08/04/2010 7:54:01 AM PDT by agere_contra (...what if we won't eat the dog food?)
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To: Palter

what a boring article.


5 posted on 08/04/2010 7:55:07 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government,)
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To: Palter

I smell Karl Rove and his damnable global warming machine at work here.


6 posted on 08/04/2010 7:55:30 AM PDT by laotzu
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To: Palter

I guess radioactivity ain’t quite as deadly as we’ve been led to believe if the pigs fluorish with it.


7 posted on 08/04/2010 7:56:47 AM PDT by umgud (Obama is a failed experiment.)
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To: Palter

Radioactive Boar make for good night hunting, since they glow in the dark.......


8 posted on 08/04/2010 7:57:19 AM PDT by G Larry (Democrats: expediting the Destruction of America, before they lose power...)
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To: Palter

HaHaa, unarmed pacifist pansies.......


9 posted on 08/04/2010 7:57:48 AM PDT by 9422WMR (Illegal is not a race)
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To: Palter

Correlation is similar to the fact that there are Liberals on the West Coast and East Coast.

I thought the same thing you did when I saw the article.


10 posted on 08/04/2010 7:59:10 AM PDT by Dryman ("FREE THE LONG FORM!")
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To: Palter

And why should it be the responsibility of the German government to pay hunters for contaminated boar meat (unless it part of an official harvest program)?


11 posted on 08/04/2010 8:01:57 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: Palter

12 posted on 08/04/2010 8:11:23 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: Palter

13 posted on 08/04/2010 8:11:29 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: Palter

hmmm...they mentioned a substance called Giese salt that they used to flush the cesium out of the sytems of farm animals...wonder where I could get some of this...


14 posted on 08/04/2010 8:14:20 AM PDT by stefanbatory (Insert witty tagline here)
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To: Palter
a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach

We get this often down at the Jersey Shore during the summer - but the radioactive wild boers are usually from Staten Island and keep talking about some pig called "Snookie".

15 posted on 08/04/2010 8:19:49 AM PDT by frithguild (Joe Wilson was wrong when he shouted "You lie!" Obama doesn't just lie - he lies all the time.)
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To: Truth29

My German neighbor here in Ohio told me that a hunting license is VERY expensive in Germany. Only the rich hunt. Maybe that is why the government pays the hunters for bad meat. They paid a lot of money to get that meat and it wasn’t edible. I’m guessing.


16 posted on 08/04/2010 8:20:02 AM PDT by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: Palter
We've got a radioactive boar problem in the U.S., too.

It's called the Democrat Party.

17 posted on 08/04/2010 8:20:09 AM PDT by TheClintons-STILLAnti-American
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To: from occupied ga

18 posted on 08/04/2010 8:20:30 AM PDT by JRios1968 (The real first rule of Fight Club: don't invite Chuck Norris...EVER)
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To: Palter
Do the wilde Sau circle the Nordpol?
19 posted on 08/04/2010 8:42:31 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The naked casuistry of the high priests of Warmism would make a Jesuit blush.)
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