Intrigued, Beasley decided to go to Chernobyl to investigate. Meanwhile, wolves were 7 times more abundant in the exclusion zone than in control reserves in Belarus, and 19 times more abundant than in an uncontaminated reserve in Russia. They found population densities of animals like elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar were similar to those counted in four uncontaminated natural reserves in Belarus. Then, during winters from 2005 until 2010, they counted animal tracks in the zone’s Belorussian side. They saw numbers of elk, roe deer, red deer, and wild boar actually increasing. For the first decade after the disaster - from 1987-1996 - researchers flew over the zone via helicopter to count large animals. “When you hear the word ‘Chernobyl,’ at least prior to a few years ago, you think of an abandoned wasteland.” But when he tried to find hard data, there wasn’t much available: “I really became intrigued in developing some studies to help address some of these knowledge gaps.”īeasley began looking at statistics from the Belarus Ministry of Natural Resources. He’d heard anecdotes from filmmakers and other visitors about having seen wildlife wandering around. And while there isn’t much data on how the radiation affected animals at a DNA level, researchers have observed increased genetic damage in fruit flies, mice and a weed called thale cress.īeasley, who works at the Savannah River Ecology Lab and has studied the environmental impact of the Savannah River Site, a former nuclear weapons factory, wondered how larger animals had been affected. For a few years after the accident, cows and sheep that had been evacuated were noticeably sickened, as were their offspring. Within months, up to 4.3 miles of pine forests to the west of the reactor died, earning the nickname “Red Forest.” In addition, according to the IAEA, large populations of rodents and insects living in the soil died off. In the immediate aftermath, plants and wildlife were clearly devastated. Less is known about the effects of radiation on another population in the region: the wild animals that live there. Wildlife ecologist James Beasley and a tagged raccoon dog near Chernobyl. In a 2005 estimate, the World Health Organization theorized that 2,200 people who worked on the emergency response and recovery (of the more than 200,000 people participating) would die from radiation-related causes, such as thyroid cancer. More than three decades later, the controversy continues over the total number of deaths and illnesses caused by Chernobyl. In the immediate aftermath, 31 people involved in the emergency response died, and by 2004 another 19 had passed away from radiation. The town of Pripyat, once home to over 50,000 people, was abandoned, along with the surrounding farms and villages. More than 116,000 people were evacuated from a 1,622-square mile zone (which is half in Belarus and half in Ukraine). According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it released 400 times more radiation into the atmosphere than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion of the Chernobyl reactor on Apnear Pripyat, Ukraine, on the Belarus-Ukraine border is considered the worst nuclear disaster in world history. Although further studies are needed, his observations send a potentially hopeful message of how wildlife may be able to bounce back after a disaster. Populations of animals have been increasing, despite the high contamination of these areas. ( Watch his TEDxPeachtree Talk: Chernobyl 30 years later.)Īnd what Beasley has found defies expectations. To learn about the impact on animal life, wildlife ecologist James Beasley, an associate professor at the University of Georgia, has done what many people wouldn’t do: he’s ventured into the exclusion zones near both the failed Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. When humans are evacuated after a nuclear disaster, what happens to the environment - soil, plants and trees, animals - left behind? Alamy Which is the bigger threat to wildlife: Radioactivity or humans? Wildlife ecologist Jim Beasley has gone into the contaminated zones around Chernobyl and Fukushima to learn the answer, and his findings are both sobering and heartening.
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