So much for planet Earth’s future. The Norwegian scientists behind the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a facility described as “Noah’s Ark for Earth’s Agriculture” – have brought the project to an early conclusion, thanks to an act of “gourmet vandalism”:
The structure, designed to protect the planet’s crop diversity, was located near the village of Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a group of islands nearly a thousand kilometers north of mainland Norway. The vault was dug into the side of a mountain, and is surrounded by permafrost and thick rock.
“I can’t understand how anyone could have broached security without having an accomplice inside the project,” said Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. “They must have bribed their way in to betraying the planet’s future.
“But from the remains at the scene, it does look like they enjoyed a delicious meal.”
This isn’t the first time researchers have been tempted to dine on the genetic diversity they were hired to preserve, but it’s probably the most dramatic.