Fukushima ‘falls under siege’ of wild boars

Fukushima, the nuclear power station that
went into meltdown after a massive earthquake six years ago, has a new menace
on its streets.


Wild radioactive boars have been caught
running around the deserted town and have even attacked people.

Where once 21,500 people used to live only
a trickle are now returning to their former
homes. One of them, Shoichiro
Sakamoto, now hunts
the rampant beasts encroaching on residential areas in nearby Tomioka.
The 69-year-old has a squad of 13 ready to
catch the animals in traps before killing them with air rifles.

People trying to move back will not need
permission to stay round the clock after
Japan lifts evacuation orders for parts of
Namie and three other towns at the end of
March.
But the menace of radioactive violent wild
boars has worried returning residents.
One scared former seed merchant, Hidezo Sato, declared: ‘Something must be done.’ Sakamoto said: ‘Wild boars in this town are
not scared of people these days.’ Adding: ‘They stare squarely at us as if
saying, “What in the world are you doing?” It’s like our town has fallen under wild boars’ control.’

After people left the city and towns around
Fukushima the boars came down from the
hills and mountainside. ‘It is not really clear now which is the master of the town, people or wild boars,’ said Tamotsu Baba, mayor of Namie, which has been partially cleared for people to return home freely at the end of the month. ‘If we don’t get rid of them and turn this into a human-led town, the situation will get even wilder and uninhabitable.’ Sakamoto uses rice flour as bait to tempt the boars into cages explaining: ‘After people left, they began coming down from the mountains and now they are not going back. ‘They found a place that was comfortable. There was plenty of food and no one to come after them.’ Since last April, the squad has captured about 300 of the animals, and intends to keep up its work even after the evacuation orders are scrapped, Sakamoto added.