Not on my apocalypse bingo card

[thatguy]

https://gizmodo.com/radioactive-wasp-nes...2000637269

Radioactive Wasp Nest Found in Decommissioned Nuclear Weapons Plant

Workers discovered a radioactive wasp nest near tanks storing liquid nuclear waste. Officials say there’s no need to panic, but watchdog groups are skeptical.
Gayoung LeePublished July 31, 2025
A radioactive wasp nest was found nearby nuclear waste tanks at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina. Credit: Department of Energy

Update: August 1, 5:00 p.m. ET: In an emailed statement sent to Gizmodo, the Savannah River Site contractor noted the discovery of three more wasp nests at the site. Here’s what they had to say about the (apparently) unfolding situation:

“The U.S. Department of Energy is managing the discovery of four wasp nests with very low levels of radioactive contamination that have been found at the Savannah River Site (SRS),” said Manager of Savannah River Site Office,  Office of Environmental Management, Edwin Deshong. “The nests do not pose a health risk to SRS workers, the community, or the environment. Work will continue at the SRS where we are fully committed to ensuring the health and safety of the workers and the community.”

We’re now left wondering if the potential leak was more extensive than originally thought. We’ll be following this story as it continues to unfold.
Original article follows.

As if wasps couldn’t get any scarier, a chilling discovery near Aiken, South Carolina, suggests they’re comfortable making their nest in a former nuclear bomb facility. 

On July 3, employees conducting a regular checkup of radiation levels at the Savannah River Site (SRS)—a former nuclear weapons production facility dating back to the 1950s—found themselves staring down at something that probably should not have been there. That something was a wasp nest measuring more than 10 times the federally permitted radiation limit. 

Nearly three weeks after this bizarre discovery, Department of Energy (DOE) officials published a report on the incident, in which they assured local residents that no new leaks had been found in the waste tanks. Rather, the nest likely became radioactive from leftover contamination dating back to when the site was fully operational. “The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radiological waste,” the report stated, adding that the “ground and [surrounding] area did not have any contamination.”
“The delay in reporting was to allow time for reviewing previous wildlife contamination for consistency in reporting criteria,” officials said. “No further action was required in the field. There is no impact from [the] event on other activities and operations.”

The SRS was built in the early 1950s to produce tritium and plutonium-239 for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Close to the turn of the century, the U.S. government transitioned the plant from a weapons manufacturer to a producer of fuel for nuclear plants, in addition to cleaning up decommissioned structures.
Overall, DOE and its contractor Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which manages the site, concluded that the incident, while understandably unsettling, shouldn’t be of significant concern to the public.
“Upon discovery of the contaminated nest, the immediate area was secured and surveyed; no contamination was found in the area,” SRMC told the Aiken Standard. “There were no impacts to workers, the environment, or the public.”

The company also said that further surveys of the nest revealed there weren’t any wasps left on the nest, adding that even if there were, the individual insects “would have significantly lower levels of contamination.” This statement about no wasps being found on the nest stands in contrast with the report; we have reached out to the contractor for clarification. 
Watchdogs of the site aren’t so impressed by the official explanations. Savannah River Site Watch criticized the report for being incomplete, failing to address where the contamination came from, how the wasps encountered the radiation, and, most importantly, whether a yet-uncovered leak could have left another radioactive wasp nest in the vicinity. 

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS didn’t explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is some kind of leak from the waste tanks that the public should be aware of,” Tom Clements, executive director of Savannah River Watch, told CBS News. 

Identifying the type of wasp nest could have revealed the source of the contamination, Clements said, since some wasps build nests from dirt while others use materials that can point to specific locations. It’s unclear, however, whether this apparent lack of effort reflects ignorance or negligence on the part of the officials.
Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly noted the collection of dead bees. We obviously meant wasps. We also updated this article to make note of the contradictory reports of wasps being on the nest. 

--tg

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[Greg]

What if you get bitten by the radioactive wasp? Waspman?

[Drunk Monk]

Nah I think you just die slowly from painful tumors.

[thatguy]

Can we have our Murder Hornets back please?

--tg

[Greg]

Nah I think you just die slowly from painful tumors.

Dammit. Always a catch.

[Drunk Monk]

Virus in Colorado Creating 'Frankenstein' Rabbits with Eerie Tentacle-Like Growths on Their Faces
Cases of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus are causing alarming changes in Colorado's rabbits
By 
Kimberlee Speakman
 
Published on August 13, 2025 03:40PM EDT



A rabbit with a cottontail papilloma virus infection.Credit : 
Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty 
NEED TO KNOW

• Rabbits with black, tentacle-like growths sprouting from their faces have been spotted in Colorado
  
• Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said the black growths on the rabbits are from a viral infection caused by the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus
  
• Experts note that the growths often don't harm the rabbits, unless the nodules inhibit eating and drinking
  

Peculiar-looking rabbits with black, tentacle-like growths sprouting from their faces have been spotted in Colorado.
Several residents in Fort Collins, Colo., have spotted the rabbits while out walking in their neighborhoods and raised concern over the creatures' strange appearance, according to KUSA-TV.
"It looks like it was black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth," Fort Collins resident Susan Mansfield told the outlet about one rabbit. "I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn't. He came back a second year, and it grew." 
Another person described the unusual additions to the outlet as "scabbish-looking" growths over the rabbit's face.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose told the Coloradoan that she started receiving reports about wild rabbits with black nodules on their face.

A photo of a rabbit with the papilloma virus.
Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty 

Some people have called the affected bunnies "Frankenstein" rabbits due to their eerie-looking growths. Others have questioned if the rabbits with the growths could be jackalopes, a cryptid from American lore which is said to have the body of a jackrabbit and the horns of an antelope, per The Smithsonian.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's (CPW) website, the black growths on the rabbits' heads are due to a grimmer, more reality-based reason — a viral infection called the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus.
The virus causes "black nodules "to grow around an infected rabbit's head. The growths can "become elongated" and take on "a horn‐like appearance."
The CPW noted that this virus is "specific to rabbits" and "does not cause disease in other species." Still, rabbits suspected to be infected should be given space to prevent the spread of the virus to other wild rabbits and pet bunnies.
Thankfully, cottontail rabbit papillomavirus causes "no significant effects" to a rabbit's health, unless the growth inhibits drinking and eating, CPW shared.
"Most infected cottontails can survive the viral infection, after which the growths will go away," CPW added on its website. 
However, the agency noted that the virus can be "more severe" in pet rabbits, who should be taken to a veterinarian for treatment if they contract the virus.

A cottontail rabbit, munching green grass.Photo © Russ Chastain

CPW spokesperson Van Hoose told The Coloradoan that summer is commonly the time to see rabbits with growths caused by the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus.
"Typically, rabbits become infected in the warmer months of summer when transmitted by being bitten by insects like fleas and ticks, then clears from the system in colder months, and the rabbits are typically fine," Van Hoose told the outlet.
She noted that while humans are not at risk of developing a cottontail rabbit papillomavirus infection, CPW recommends staying away from infected rabbits — just like any other wild animal.

Not as apocalyptic as radioactive wasps but strangely disturbing.

[thatguy]

jackalopes are real!

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Oh, that is soooooo not right. Poor Mutant Devil Bunnies!

[Drunk Monk]

Glad y’all agree. When I went down this tentacled rabbit hole, it was like Watership Down meets David Lynch. Nightmare fuel. An omen of the apocalypse.

[thatguy]

Reminds me of the Cordycep fungus from Last of Us. 



--tg