I was a volunteer for the rescue program in 2018. I am not sure what the exact criteria were, but dogs from the Chernobyl exclusion zone have been re-homed before.
A few dogs which otherwise would have been good candidates were too internally contaminated to re-home. Not too bad, it would have been something equivalent to a few x-rays a year if the dog slept on your bed every night. But the modal rescue dog has no radiation risk at all to worry about.
Beyond that, the workers in the exclusion zone are quite fond and protective of the stray dogs, so I think there would have been significant blowback if a significant portion of the dogs were re-homed.
Not quite. The exclusion zone is pretty touristy, and there are always people there working. The dogs are mostly tame and friendly, and they happily engage and socialise with tourists.
One thing to understand about Ukraine is that many animals are kind of like community pets. They don’t belong to anyone in particular, but they live in one area and are fed and cared for by all the people in the area. People (and even businesses!) build small shelters for the animals. The Silpo supermarket downstairs from the last apartment I lived in had its own little cat shelter fit for about six cats, and painted nicely with Silpo branding.
Comments
Can we work towards re-homing the dogs, or not so much?
I was a volunteer for the rescue program in 2018. I am not sure what the exact criteria were, but dogs from the Chernobyl exclusion zone have been re-homed before.
A few dogs which otherwise would have been good candidates were too internally contaminated to re-home. Not too bad, it would have been something equivalent to a few x-rays a year if the dog slept on your bed every night. But the modal rescue dog has no radiation risk at all to worry about.
Beyond that, the workers in the exclusion zone are quite fond and protective of the stray dogs, so I think there would have been significant blowback if a significant portion of the dogs were re-homed.
Of course we could, but is there any reason why we should? They seem to be doing fine as is.
They are domestic dogs. Yes they can fend for themselves but are bred to be and will be happier as human companions.
Are they? They have been living away from human for last 40 years.
They are free roaming, that meant they could migrate if they really want. ..
Not quite. The exclusion zone is pretty touristy, and there are always people there working. The dogs are mostly tame and friendly, and they happily engage and socialise with tourists.
One thing to understand about Ukraine is that many animals are kind of like community pets. They don’t belong to anyone in particular, but they live in one area and are fed and cared for by all the people in the area. People (and even businesses!) build small shelters for the animals. The Silpo supermarket downstairs from the last apartment I lived in had its own little cat shelter fit for about six cats, and painted nicely with Silpo branding.
Sure, and when they curl up on your bed – you've got yourself a free-energy nightlight!