Overview
- Ecocentre chief Serhij Kirjejew told journalists in Chernobyl that there are no blue dogs in northern Ukraine, calling the reports nonsense.
- He said stray dogs in the exclusion zone are sterilized and marked with blue paint to show the procedure has been done.
- Kirjejew emphasized that the spray paint used for marking is harmless to the animals.
- Officials say the sterilization program is intended to curb the stray population that has persisted since dogs were left behind in the 1986 evacuation.
- The clarification followed widely shared photos and NGO and tabloid posts that had stoked theories about mutations or exposure to a mysterious substance.