Puppies From Radioactive Chernobyl Are Starting New Lives In North America

These Chernobyl puppies have spent their lives in a region still grappling with the fallout of Europe’s worst-ever nuclear disaster. But they’re about to start new lives with families in the US and Canada.

Jane Lytvynenko
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Reporting From
Slavutych, Ukraine

Posted on January 24, 2019, at 11:41 a.m. ET



Natalia Melnichuk with one of the dogs being trained.

CHERNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE — A dozen puppies with satellite-dish ears and wagging tails scampered behind Natalia Melnichuk as she carried an oversized bowl of dog food. She stopped walking, turned around, and commanded the puppies to sit, showing off one of the four commands they’re required to know before leaving the small Ukrainian town of Slavutych to find new homes.

These puppies are about to become the first dogs ever to leave an area known as the Chernobyl exclusion zone and live abroad with foreigners who’ve adopted them. The dogs have spent their lives in one of the strangest places on Earth, a region still grappling with the fallout of Europe’s worst-ever nuclear disaster.

Yet these dogs are as normal as any others. “If one of them picks up a stick," Melnichuk said, “everyone else needs the stick.”

These puppies and their older brethren are also internet famous. One video of the dogs last year racked up nearly 6 million views on Facebook, another two-minute one received over a million views in 2017. One of the videos was part of a crowdfunding campaign that raised $56,000 to help the dogs of Chernobyl. (The fundraiser enjoyed a boost when pictures of the puppies were posted by large Twitter accounts like We Rate Dogs and Darth.) The nonprofit behind that crowdfunding project is called the Clean Futures Fund. Along with helping the dogs that call the exclusion zone home, CFF provides medical care and other services to the people who continue to be affected by the massive nuclear accident that occurred at the Chernobyl power plant more than 32 years ago.

More:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/rescue-dogs-chernobyl?ref=bfnsplash