Overview
- Photos and video shared by the Dogs of Chernobyl program in October showed several strays with bright blue fur inside the exclusion zone.
- In a Nov. 13 Facebook post, scientific advisor Timothy A. Mousseau said the most likely cause is dye from a tipped-over portable toilet rather than any radiation-driven change.
- Mousseau rejected social media claims of mutation or evolutionary adaptation, describing the coloration as a result of unsanitary rolling behavior.
- Dogs of Chernobyl, affiliated with the Clean Futures Fund, cares for roughly 700 stray dogs that are descendants of pets abandoned after the 1986 evacuation.
- Coverage notes earlier research reporting radiation-linked mutations in some local dogs and also highlights that parts of the zone still register radiation above human safety limits.