Germany is still full of radioactive boars, thanks to Chernobyl

(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine, radioactive wild boars are still roaming free in Germany. And while wild boar meat is a coveted meal in Saxony, the number of boars with radiation is so high that it's affecting the country's food supply.

The German government has reported that a shocking number of wild boars in the area are "unfit for human consumption" because of their radiation levels, according to The Telegraph. Out of 752 boars tested, 297 had radiation levels higher than Germany's legal limit of 600 becquerels per kilogram of cesium-137. That means that more than one out of every three wild boars has radiation levels so high it can't be eaten.

Many scientists are speculating that the radioactive boar problem is thanks to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Though the power plant's explosion was roughly 700 miles from Saxony's forests, elements of wind and rain could have carried the radioactive materials west. The Telegraph notes that wild boars may be "particularly affected" since they eat mushrooms and truffles, which store radiation.