This is the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.
A radioactive ghost town.
And home to hundreds of stray dogs.
No one can live here.
So how are these dogs surviving in Chernobyl?
And how did they get here?
In 1986, reactor four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant melted down,
releasing fatal levels of radiation into the nearby cities and towns.
Over 115,000 people were exposed to the radiation before they were evacuated
from the worker city of Pripyat and the smaller towns and villages nearby.
Because of the contamination, they were told to leave everything behind,
including their pets.
Dogs that had lived happily with their families for their entire lives suddenly
became homeless.
In the months after the disaster, the government tried to manage the spread of
the radiation, which meant getting rid of the dogs that had been living in the
contaminated exclusion zone.
We do animal control.
Animal control?
Yeah, they're radioactive.
So they have to go.
But the exclusion zone was so large that it was impossible to track down all of
the animals, and hundreds of dogs survived.
What happened to the dogs who were left behind?
Over the last 30-plus years, the exclusion zone has been abandoned.
The only people who come and go from the site are the workers who are
decommissioning the plant and the occasional tourist.
But despite the lack of people, the dogs have survived.
The population of dogs grew and grew, until in 2017, there was estimated to be
over 1,000 living in different areas of the exclusion zone.
But because of the contamination, they still weren't allowed to leave.
And rescuing them was illegal.
Many of the workers tried to take care of the dogs as best as they could,
bringing them food and treats.
But for the most part, the dogs were left to fend for themselves.
In 2016, a group of scientists visited the zone for research.
Going into this industrial facility, especially one that had arguably the worst
disaster, industrial accident in history, and you see a couple hundred stray
animals running around.
It's not something that you're expecting.
They have no shelter, no food and water, lots of predators.
They really have everything working against them.
And they decided to do something about it.
We're coming to you from Pripyat, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
We have now located a few dogs that we're going to go to trap, neuter,
vaccinate, test for radiation and then release.
The first ever animal clinic in the exclusion zone was set up temporarily in
2017.
We're in the surgery suite here.
We're getting ready to bring about 10 dogs that we have waiting. Since
the dogs couldn't be rescued,
the best option was to help make them as comfortable as possible.
They received medical treatment, were vaccinated and spayed and neutered to help
control the population.
We've got dog catching teams.
They go out, they collect the dogs. When
they come into the clinic, the first thing that happens is that they're frisked
for radiation.
If it's under 100, the dog is pretty
clean. We can bring the dog into the clinic.
And there was one big question they wanted to answer.
After living their entire lives at the site of a nuclear disaster, are the dogs
radioactive? The answer is mostly no.
We've only seen two at this clinic that have been contaminated.
The radioactive contamination on most of the dogs is from the area they live in,
from rolling in the dirt and eating the grass.
And it actually washes off.
Once the dogs are decontaminated, they're safe to pet and snuggle.
Good morning.
Good morning!
Oh, is that the spot?
After proving that most of the dogs aren't radioactive, in 2018, they received
special permission from the government to start rescuing dogs from the zone for
the first time.
We just got our first 12 dogs out of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the
first time ever.
Over 40 puppies have left the zone and found the perfect families.
With hundreds of dogs in the zone, it's impossible to rescue all of them.
So rescuers are doing whatever they can to make their lives a little bit
easier, like setting up a feeding program so they have a consistent source of
food.
These are our dogs and we care for them.
We've developed special relationships with nearly every one.
And we're committed to being here for the long haul.