In recent weeks, reports of blue dogs in the radioactively contaminated exclusion zone around the damaged Soviet Chernobyl nuclear power plant have caused a stir on the Internet. Speculation quickly arose that this could be a result of radiation.
Footage of blue dogs in Chernobyl sparked speculation online.Image: screenshot instagram
This theory was already denied by experts in the area at the beginning of November. “This is nonsense,” Serhiy Kirjeyev, the general director of the state-owned company Ecocentre, which monitors the zone, told journalists in Chernobyl. His explanation: The dogs would be sterilized and marked with blue paint to identify them. The color is harmless – this all helps to contain the spread of the dogs.
That seemed to be the end of the issue – but now this theory is suddenly being called into question. “That couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Dr. Timothy A. Mousseau from the Dogs of Chernobyl organization. He explains in one Post on Facebook:
“In fact, the blue paint probably came from an overturned toilet cubicle that the dogs had been rolling around in, as dogs tend to do. The blue color was simply a sign of the dogs’ unhygienic behavior! As every dog owner knows, most dogs will eat just about anything, including poop!”
The Chernobyl dogs are animals whose ancestors were left behind after the 1986 disaster. These subsequently multiplied and there is still a population of street dogs today.
The Chernobyl radiation disaster is considered the worst in the civil use of nuclear energy. In April 1986, a reactor exploded in the then Soviet nuclear power plant and all towns within a radius of around 30 kilometers had to be evacuated. Tens of thousands of people were relocated and thousands suffered radiation damage. (dab, with material from Keystone-SDA)
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