Wildlife is abundant in Chernobyl, study reveals

Date:  January 31, 2019

Source:  University of Georgia

A scavenger study that used fish carcasses as bait provides additional evidence that wildlife is abundant in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, University of Georgia researchers said.

A one-month camera study prompted the sighting of 10 mammal and five bird species, according to James Beasley, associate professor at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

"These animals were photographed while scavenging fish carcasses placed on the shoreline of rivers and canals in the CEZ," he said. "We've seen evidence of a diversity of wildlife in the CEZ through our previous research, but this is the first time that we've seen white-tailed eagles, American mink and river otter on our cameras."

Beasley is referring to a 2015 study that provided the first evidence that wildlife -- including gray wolves -- exists in abundance in this ecological zone of about 1,000 square miles that was abandoned by humans after the 1986 nuclear accident.

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