Putin’s warfare threatens Chernobyl’s wildlife ‘oasis’ as animals worn out by mines
After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, the exclusion zone around the reactor was evacuated amid fears of radioactive contamination and wild animals moved in
Wildlife has taken over the disaster zone(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The wildlife that has taken over nuclear disaster area Chernobyl is now under threat thanks to Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine. After the nuclear catastrophe in 1986, the exclusion zone around the reactor was evacuated amid fears of radioactive contamination.
Families were forced to relocate and the area became a ghost town as more than 100,000 people left, amid fears the after effects of the disaster could destroy their health.
With people gone, nature returned, but now even that is under threat thanks to the ongoing Russian war.
A recent study, published by the Royal Society, showed how the zone has in recent decades become a refuge for large mammals including the likes of moose, wild boar and the endangered wild horses.
But now experts have warned it could too come to an end for the animals. because it is so near to the border of the war.
Researchers say the sanctuary is under threat from another human catastrophe. Ukrainian ecologist Svitlana Kudrenko said in tests that they have recorded 13 large mammal species inside the zone using it as home.
“Once you exclude or at least decrease human disturbance,” Kudrenko said. “Nature finds its way.”
The most significant species found to be living in the area was Przewalski’s horse, a wild horse once thought extinct in the wild.
“Without humans, Chernobyl became “an oasis” for wildlife,” he added.
This has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the war still rumbling now. The area has become a target for crossfire, and in the past month, forest fires have raged, thought to have been caused by a crashed drone.
Animals have also been killed by landmines.
Kudrenko feared her camera traps had captured the end of Chernobyl’s standing as a wildlife refuge. “This chapter, unfortunately, has ended,” she said.
