Your Dog — November 2017

http://www.yourdog.co.uk Your Dog November 2017 71

“Owners were forbidden from re-entering the

area to recover their animals...”

T

he explosion of reactor four at the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

in Pripyat, Ukraine, on April 26,

1986, is regarded as the worst nuclear

catastrophe in history, and made headlines

all over the world.

Over 120,000 people from 189 towns

and villages within 30 kilometres (19

miles) of the power plant — known as the

Exclusion Zone — had to evacuate, leaving

all their worldly possessions behind,

including their pets.

Once the extent of the devastation

became apparent, owners were forbidden

from re-entering the area to recover their

animals, who were now contaminated

with radiation and left to fend for

themselves. The dogs retreated to the

surrounding woods, but packs of wolves

and food scarcity forced them back to the

abandoned city and towards the still active

nuclear plant.

LEFT BEHIND

It’s not clear how the animals were

affected by the radiation or how they

survived the initial fallout, although it is

thought that some did suffer side effects,

such as damage to their nervous systems.

Fearing the spread of rabies from the

stray dogs, the government sent soldiers

into the Exclusion Zone to eradicate the

problem. Many dogs, however, managed

to stay hidden, and went on to survive the

harsh winter conditions that followed, with

little in the way of shelter or food.

Thirty years on, it’s estimated that

over 250 stray dogs, descendants of

those abandoned pets, live around the

nuclear power plant in the ghost town

▼

of Pripyat, with another 225 in the city of

Chernobyl itself 20 kilometres (12 miles)

away. Hundreds more inhabit the various

security checkpoints throughout the

Exclusion Zone, an area which stretches

to around 2,600 square kilometres (1,000

square miles).

Severe malnutrition is just one of the

problems these dogs face. Due to the

many wild animals that live within the

Exclusion Zone, including wolves, deer,

bears, and boars, these strays are often

exposed to and infected with rabies.

More than 3,500 people now work

within the Exclusion Zone — primarily

construction workers who are building the

New Safe Confi nement structure at the

power plant — and around 200 people live

there permanently (former residents who

refused to leave following the disaster).

They have in a way adopted these stray

dogs as their own, feeding them scraps of

food and caring for them when they are ill

or injured, despite the risks to their

own health.

REDUCING RABIES

A lack of funds for an alternative

solution forced the nuclear power

plant to hire a worker to cull the

dogs, but thankfully another option

has become available. With the

help of international animal welfare

organisation FOUR PAWS and

eight other partners, US charity

Clean Futures Fund (CFF) has

stepped in and implemented

a fi ve-year plan, named Dogs of

Chernobyl, to help the animals

within the Exclusion Zone.

The project aims to catch, neuter,

and medically treat up to 500 stray dogs

over the next fi ve years.

This includes vaccination against rabies,

in an attempt to protect both the animals,

and the workers who can’t help but care

for them.

Lucas Hixson, co-founder of CFF,

explains: “The priority is to vaccinate these

dogs against rabies, as well as parvovirus

and hepatitis. We’re also treating them for

worms and mange, which are big issues in

the area.”

Julie Sanders, international director

of the companion animals department

at FOUR PAWS, says: “By vaccinating

the stray dogs, we are also protecting

the 3,500 nuclear power plant workers

who come into contact with the dogs. By

neutering the strays, we will also achieve

a long-term reduction in their population,

improving their welfare. This is important

because their chances of survival are

greatly reduced if their numbers increase,

wwwwwwwww.yoourdrdrdog.oogo co.ouukukuk 71

pp g

Dogs are checked for

radiation levels.

FOUR PAWS vet Oleksandr

Senchuk operates on

a Chernobyl dog.

Alesya Lischyshyna, director of FOUR

PAWS Ukraine, pets a dog in the front

of the New Safe Confi nement.

70-72 Chernobyl Dogs(SW) CC.indd 71 22/09/2017 12:42