There was a remarkable documentary on NHK the other day. Large parts of Fukushima prefecture have been abandoned by people, so wildlife is returning and taking over. Fields are becoming overgrown and animals are increasing, especially rats and mice, wild boars, and monkeys. The rats are destroying people's houses. The boars and monkeys are losing their fear of people.
You can probably understand the gist of it with Google translate: http://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/kiroku/detail_3379.html http://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/kiroku/detail02_3379_all.html In this second section it says: わなにかかったイノシシ。 ところが猟師たちは、その肉を食べることができません。 福島県内で捕獲されたイノシシからは、最高で６万１，０００ベクレル、国の基準値の６１０倍もの放射性セシウムが検出されています。 "Wild boars caught in a trap. As it happens, the hunters cannot eat the meat from these boars. Tests of the meat from boars shot in Fukushima Prefecture show radioactive cesium at levels up to 61,000 becquerels, which is 610 times the maximum allowed by government safety standards." The voice-over explains that the boars eat plants that have concentrated surface radioactive debris. I read elsewhere that botanists are discovering all kinds of new things about how some plants concentrate radioactivity and others do not. This is history's largest-scale experiment in plant science and radioactivity. I do not think anyone in his right mind would eat produce grown in Fukushima. To deal with this problem, they are building enclosed food factories. I hope they can filter out radioactive crud from the water. I would note that these boars do know where the prefecture borders are, and they are not going to stay in one place even if the IAEA studies them. The fish in the ocean are also prone to swim anywhere they want, even after being exposed to the new, heavily contaminated run-off water from the reactors, which is pouring into the ocean at this moment. No one seems to know how to stop it. - Jed
