Now I Have To Worry About The Radioactive Ostriches?

FUKUSHIMA — The agriculture ministry is trying to round up more than 10 ostriches that ran off from a farm in the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Pecking order: An ostrich eats food in September left out by government workers in a residential area in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture. KYODO PHOTO

The wayward birds are wandering around evacuated residential areas in the no-go zone.

Officials plan to soon start reassessing the evacuation area and may allow some residents to return home on a permanent basis. To ease their concerns in advance, the ministry started trying to catch the large birds in October, managing to bag two of them so far.

The farm where they came from, located in the town of Okuma, had about 30 ostriches before the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster crippled the nuclear plant.

More than 10 are believed still alive.

The ostriches have been seen by residents when they have been allowed brief visits to their homes.

Ministry officials are trying to catch the birds by luring them with food and then covering their eyes with blinders.

Numerous cows have also run away from farms in the no-go zone.

In May, the central government instructed the Fukushima Prefectural Government to catch and kill them after obtaining consent from the owners.