Radioactive wild boar-pig hybrid emerged from nuclear wasteland of Fukushima

[Judi Lynn]

Danielle Demetriou
09:12, Jul 01 2021

A hybrid species of wild boar and domestic pigs is marauding around Fukushima, Japanese scientists have discovered by surprise after investigating the effects of radiation on animals.

A genetic study found that wild boar cross-bred with domestic pigs escaped from local farms in areas deserted by humans after a tsunami and an earthquake triggered the 2011 crisis at Fukushima nuclear power plant and displaced 160,000 people.

Beyond radiation risks, an unexpected nuisance looms for Japanese returning to towns vacated after the Fukushima nuclear crisis six years ago - wild boars.

Hundreds of the animals, which have been known to attack people when enraged, descended from surrounding hills and forests into towns left deserted after the 2011 disaster.

Now they roam the empty streets and overgrown backyards of Japan's deserted seaside town of Namie, foraging for food.

More:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/90288714/wild-boars-roam-radiationhit-fukushima-but-the-people-are-about-to-return

[FarPoint]

1. Will there be a ....

Godzilla next?????????

[BootinUp]

3. GodPiggy?

[Staph]

4. Pig-zilla?!?

[BootinUp]

5. lol, yeah that could work

[SWBTATTReg]

6. That's a pretty good name. Mine is Boarzilla!

I like these 'make up a name' for these kinds of things...I wonder if the bacon is precooked already???

[underpants]

2. So how many minutes to finish microwaving this bacon?

Bring lots of paper towels.

[babylonsister]

7. From 2017: Radioactive wild boars have taken over two Japanese towns

Radioactive wild boars have taken over two Japanese towns
Published Fri, Mar 10 2017
8:21 AM EST
Updated Fri, Mar 10 20178:21 AM EST
David Reid


Hundreds of radioactive wild boars have reportedly taken over at least two towns located within the exclusion zone near the abandoned Fukushima power station in Japan.

The meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant six years ago forced thousands of residents to leave the surrounding area, but now the Japanese government wants residents to return home

After people deserted the towns, wild boars emerged from local forests to scavenge for food and, according to local media, have flourished.

The boars have been eating food and plants, which have caused the animals to be exposed to radiation levels far in excess of government stipulated safe levels.

more...

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/10/radioactive-wild-boars-have-taken-over-two-japanese-towns.html

[NNadir]

8. Nowhere in this news article is there any statement of the pigs being radioactive.

Nor is the town, which has been cleared for its inhabitants to return, described as a "nuclear wasteland."

It certainly doesn't compare in my mind to the situation where the entire West Coast is experiencing temperatures higher than 40C, but it's better to focus on Fukushima than climate change I guess.

Fukushima, as we hear it was serious, climate change, not so much,.

[wackadoo wabbit]

9. I honestly believe that this is because most people cannot even comprehend the existential threat

that climate change represents.

[Metaphorical]

10. I live in Seattle

After enduring 115 degree temperatures the last few days when the average for this time of year is about 78, I suspect there may be far more people taking the idea of climate change seriously. Many stores ended up closing early because too many employees were calling in sick with heat exhaustion, the heat was causing roads to crack, and there was a rolling blackout as lines melted and transformers blew. Fortunately, the worst seems to have passed, but I'm dreading August when the forests around here that were baked to a crisp start catching on fire.

[NNadir]

14. In the Sendai event destroying the reactors, 20,000 people died from SEAWATER.

Very few people, if any, died from radiation. No one took that reality seriously and questioned the safety of coastal cities.

There is a lot of evidence that the evacuation risk was higher than the radiation risk, for example, this: Was the Risk from Nursing-Home Evacuation after the Fukushima Accident Higher than the Radiation Risk? or Post-nuclear disaster evacuation and survival amongst elderly people in Fukushima: A comparative analysis between evacuees and non-evacuees

In fact, if one searches on Google Scholar, one can find 17,000 papers discussing this issue.

The headline here seems to imply that the pigs are radiation mutants. This is absurd nonsense; they are feral (European genetic stock) that have bred with wild boars. This wild boar/pig breeding is known all over the world, most notably in Texas, where wild pigs are doing enormous damage to agriculture.

The headline seems to ignore the fact that the pigs, whose proteome is actually closer to the human proteome than monkeys, are alive and functioning quite well, despite living in the "nuclear wasteland" this obscene headline evokes, in a science forum of all places.

Since Fukushima, about 70 million human beings died from air pollutions, and more from heat exhaustion.

I wish I could believe that the events in Seattle would change people's minds, too little too late.

But no, taking climate change seriously will go down the memory hole, as do the deaths associated with air pollution, the fires around the world destroying vast stretches of wilderness, the unmitigated destruction of the entire Gulf of Mexico in the Deepwater Horizon event.

I've lived too long and seen too much to think it will come out any other way.

All of this could have been avoided, but....MUTANT FUKUSHIMA RADIOACTIVE PIGS MUTATE INTO GODZILLA.

[DFW]

11. We always knew that Snowball and Napoleon would take over some day

Orwell just never figured it would happen in Japan.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Poor things!

[sl8]

13. The byline year in your post is 2021, but it's 2017 in the linked article.

The linked article doesn't appear to be the source for the posted excerpt.

On edit:

This Telegraph article seems to match the excerpt in the OP:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/30/wild-boar-pig-hybrid-emerges-nuclear-wasteland-fukushima/

[mitch96]

15. how long before they send out the helicopter killers?

I would think if it got really bad they could GM a breed of pig that reproduces offspring that produces sterile piggies...LIke the sterile mosquitoes in the Fla Keys..? YMMV
m

[csziggy]

16. It doesn't take radioactivity to make wild hogs dangerous and they are extremely destructive

Appearance:
Wild hogs can reach weights of more than 150 pounds and measure 5 to 6 feet long.

Habitat:
Wild hogs occur in all 67 counties of Florida. They are found in a wide variety of habitats but prefer oak-cabbage palm hammocks, freshwater marshes and sloughs, pine flatwoods, and more open agricultural areas.

Behavior:
They usually travel in small family groups or alone. Wild hogs eat a variety of plants and animals and feed by rooting with their broad snouts. They may disturb the soil and ground cover vegetation and leave the area looking like it has been plowed.

Additional Information:
The wild hog (Sus Scrofa) is also called feral hog, feral swine, feral pig, wild boar, wild pig or piney woods rooter. This species is not native to Florida. However, resident populations have existed here for hundreds of years – they may have been introduced by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto as early as 1539.

https://vimeo.com/464998639
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/wild-hog/

Although they are a popular target for hunters, wild hogs are coming into conflict with people and wildlife,” Giuliano said. “Farmers are not happy when feral hogs root up their fields, and health officials say the animals carry ­diseases that could affect wildlife, livestock and people.”

Giuliano, who conducts research on the animals with George Tanner, a professor in the UF wildlife ecology and conservation department, said hogs can also host many diseases and parasites, including hog cholera, psuedorabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, anthrax, ticks, fleas, lice and various flukes and worms.

“Wild hogs, which usually weigh 100 to 200 pounds, are dangerous,” Giuliano said. “Although they prefer to run and escape danger, they can be aggressive when they’re injured or cornered. They can move with great speed and can cause serious injury with their tusks.”

Acorns are their favorite food, but they will eat almost anything, including dead animals, and it seems like they’re always looking for opportunities, he said. When natural foods are scarce or inaccessible, hogs will forage on almost any agricultural crop and livestock feed. They will also feed on tree seeds and seedlings, causing significant damage in forests, groves and plantations. In Florida and the Southeast, this may be a problem in regenerating long-leaf pine forests.

More: https://research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v10n3/extract6.html

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Three words: garlic honey mustard. nt

[BlueWavePsych]

20. LOL

[SCantiGOP]

22. Except it may be more likely

that the pig is eating you instead of the other way around.

[hunter]

18. One lesson I learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima...

... is that humans going about their ordinary business do far more damage to the natural environment than the very worst sorts of nuclear accidents.

Does a fish or a pig care if its slightly radioactive? No.

That radioactivity might even keep it off some human's dinner table.

[BlueWavePsych]

19. Whoa!

[Javaman]

21. They will never get rid of them.

Living in Texas we deal with a massive overpopulation of while boars. they destroy everything and are not indigenous.

brought here by Spain, they quickly spread.

Boar hunting is not only needed desperately, but highly encouraged by the state.

I'm not even a hunter and I see the need for it.