Radioactive boar shot dead in Sweden 31 years after Chernobyl nuclear rain
Aradioactive boar has been shot dead in Sweden. The animal had 10 times the safe limit of radiation, because it lived in fields affected by the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
Sweden was covered in a toxic cloud after the nuclear reactor exploded at the former Soviet Union power station, metro.co.uk reported.
When it rained, radioactive iodine and cesium-137 fell on Gävle in the central east causing radioactive pollution.
In subsequent years the levels of radiation in elk and reindeer have decreased, but wild boar have moved into areas worst affected by the nuclear fallout.
One boar shot in August had a radiation of 13,000 Becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg) and the limit set by Sweden’s Food Agency for safe consumption is 1,500Bq/kg.
Another boar which had been shot but was kept in freezer storage, has just had its radiation level measured at 16,000Bg/kg, or in other words, more than ten times the safe limit.
Ulf Frykman, an environmental consultant who tests radiation levels in game meat, told SVT, “This is the highest level we’ve measured.”
Frykman added of the 30 samples of meat so far this year, and found that only five or six of those were below the safe limit.
Wild boar hunts are very popular in Sweden.
He said: “I think there can be big problems for both hunters and others. With such high (radiation) values, the hunters may not be as interested in chasing wild boar.”
Animals with high levels of radiation rarely have negative health effects due to their short life spans but humans who consume meat with high radiation levels have a small increased risk of developing cancer.