- The boar was shot in Augustin the Gävle in the centre-east of Sweden
- It was carrying radiation levels of 13,000 becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg)
- The limit set by Sweden’s Food Agency for safe consumption is 1,500 Bq/kg
A wild boar shot dead in Swedish fields affected by the Chernobyl disaster was found to be carrying ten times the normal level of radiation.
The news comes 31 years after the catastrophic nuclear disaster in which a reactor at a power plant near Pripyat, in Soviet Ukraine, exploded, sending a cloud of radioactive material that affected much of Europe.
The boar was shot in Augustin the Gävle in the centre-east of Sweden where the ecosystem was hit hard by the Chernobyl fallout.
A wild boar with ten times the normal level of radiation has been shot dead in Swedish fields affected by the Chernobyl disaster (stock image)
It was found to be carrying a radiation level of 13,000 becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg) – the limit set by Sweden’s Food Agency for safe consumption is 1,500 Bq/kg.
‘This is the highest level we’ve measured,’ Ulf Frykman, an environmental consultant who tests radiation levels in game meat, told SVT.
While the area’s elk and reindeer population’s radiation levels have steadily decreased over the years, radioactivity among boars appears to be on the rise.
It is thought this could be due to boars migrating north to areas that have been more affected by the fallout.
The animals themselves do not suffer many side effects from the radiation though it slightly increases cancer risk in humans who eat the meat.
Mr Frykman said that just 17 per cent of samples he examined so far this year were below the Food Agency’s maximum level.