Chernobyl’s Wolf Population Is Now 7 Times Higher Than Before the Disaster

The most expensive nuclear disaster in human history turned 40 on Sunday, but the consequences have been almost perversely benign for some of the region’s wildlife. The full core meltdown at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 led to the cordoning off of 1,081 square miles in Ukraine and 838 square miles in Belarus as a radioecological preserve. Environmental scientist Jim Smith noted that wildlife in the exclusion zone has thrived due to reduced human pressure, with wolf populations now seven times higher than before the accident.

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