They are real, but ... Mystery of blue dogs in Chernobyl solved
For days, several media reported on alleged blue dogs in the radioactively contaminated zone of Chernobyl. Now a Ukrainian expert explains what this is all about.
02.11.2025, 05:46
02.11.2025, 06:55
SDA
Reports of blue dogs running around the radioactively contaminated exclusion zone around the damaged Soviet nuclear power plant in Chernobyl have attracted attention on the internet. According to an expert, however, there are no blue dogs in northern Ukraine.
"That's nonsense," Serhij Kirjejew, General Director of the state-owned company Ecocentre, which is responsible for monitoring the zone, told journalists in Chernobyl.
He solved the mystery: "The dogs have been sterilized, and they are marked in blue that they have been sterilized." According to the general director, the animals are sterilized to contain their spread.
Director General: "The color is harmless to these dogs"
"The color is harmless to these dogs," the expert assured. Previously, international media had reported on several blue dogs that had suddenly appeared, based on a video recording from the radioactively contaminated area.
The Chernobyl radiation disaster is considered the most serious in the civilian use of nuclear energy. In April 1986, a reactor exploded at the then Soviet nuclear power plant and all towns and villages within a radius of around 30 kilometers had to be evacuated. Tens of thousands of people were relocated and thousands suffered radiation damage. Dogs left behind multiplied and there is still a population of street dogs today.
