Stray dogs living around the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster are receiving care for their radiation exposure.
Volunteers are helping to care for the estimated 900 stray dogs that live in the site’s exclusion zone in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The effort, which is part of the Dogs of Chernobyl Initiative, has volunteers capture the dogs to check their radiation levels, give them vaccines (since rabid wolves are nearby), and neuter and spay them. Some dogs are also outfitted with radiation sensors to map radiation levels in the exclusion zone.
The initiative is sponsored by the Clean Futures Fund, which is crowdfunding money for the dogs online to help give them a better life.
Since the 1986 disaster, only about 200 residents live in the exclusion zone. Even with the low population inside the zone, 10,000 tourists visit it each year.
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