Wildlife in Chernobyl
Some 116,000 people fled the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl power plant when its reactor exploded in 1986, and another 220,000 were later resettled. In total, a zone covering around 4200 square kilometres split equally between Belarus and Ukraine was vacated. In a study of wildlife in the area by researcher Jim Smith, roe deer, elk, wild boar and wolves were surveyed between 2008 and 2010 by counting tracks left in snow. Their abundance was compared with that seen between 2005 and 2010 in four uncontaminated nature reserves of similar size and habitat in Belarus. The density in Chernobyl matched or exceeded those in other reserves. A similar picture was seen when wildlife numbers in Chernobyl were compared with those in the Bryansky Forest reserve 250 kilometres away in Russia. “Whatever negative effects there are from radiation, they are not as large as the negative effects of having people there,” says Smith.