Fukushima: ‘Radioactive’ wild boars rampaging through nuclear site

The boar population in northern Japan has increased by a whopping 330% in the four years since the disaster.

And the government is now offering rewards to "hunters” hoping to inspire a cull of the boars.

But it’s not enough.

The animals are reproducing so quickly that hunters simply cannot keep up and it’s left scientists scratching their heads.

Professor Okuda Keitokunin told Mainichi newspaper: "Wild boars, along with raccoons, have been taking advantage of the evacuation zone.

"They have been entering vacant houses in areas damaged by the disaster and using as breeding places and burrows."

Over 13,000 are currently in the "exclusion zone” – spanning a 12 mile radius from the plant.

And the boars have reportedly caused an eye-watering £10.6 million worth of damage to agriculture in the area since the 2011 disaster.

That leaves the problem of what to do with the bodies of slain boars.

As the creatures have been contaminated by radioactive waste, they are not fit for human consumption.

But mass graves holding 600 boars each are already full and there is a shortage of people qualified to cremate them.

So, for now at least, the radioactive swines are here to stay.

The disaster at Fukushima was caused by a tsunami resulting in the meltdown of three nuclear reactors and a release of radioactive waste.

News of the boars comes just days after jaw-dropping footage emerged of how the world would look if a nuclear bomb went off.

(dailystar.co.uk)