The event took place in Suceava County, where a wild boar coming from the contaminated area of Chernobyl was shot. The wild boar was on a hunting area managed by the Suceava Forestry Directorate, located about 10 km from the border with Ukraine. Ciprian Pahonțu, general director of the National Forests Authority, stated that the animal had a level of excess of contamination with Cs-137 and Cs-134.
Pahonțu said that the wild boar was found on the hunting ground 17 Botuș which is managed by Ocolul Silvic Breaza. The wild boar meat was taken to laboratory tests, and the result was shocking when specialists saw the level of Cs-137 and Cs-134 contamination of the animal. According to the regulations in force, the Suceava Forestry Department together with ANSVSA and the Environmental Guard will take additional measures for the analysis and supervision of the area.
It should be noted that foresters are the first situation of this kind in which they encounter a contaminated animal from Chernobyl. The most important and worrying aspect is that this type of Cs 137 and Cs 134 contamination is identical to that which exists in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and, implicitly, just as dangerous for humans and animals.
The specialists identified the ear tag RO 0409416 on the contaminated wild boar.
The specifications refer to the age of the animal, which is 3 years old, and to the fact that it was male.
This incident alarmed the authorities because the wild boar was found on the Romanian territory, in the Botuș hunting area, in the Lucina area. As a result of this incident, the Ministry of Environment and the Suceava Environmental Protection Agency will perform tests on the soil in the area trying to establish the level of radioactivity existing at its level.
They will try to reconstruct the route of the wild boar to identify if there are other contaminated areas.