Overview
- A Dogs of Chernobyl scientific advisor, Dr. Timothy A. Mousseau, said the blue hue most likely came from portable-toilet dye, not radiation.
- Photos of three blue-tinted dogs, first shared by the Dogs of Chernobyl program in October, prompted widespread social media speculation.
- The advisor’s statement, posted on the group’s Facebook page, rejects theories of mutation or evolutionary adaptation as the cause of the coloration.
- Field teams conducting catch-and-sterilization work have encountered the blue dogs but have not yet captured them to confirm the source of the dye.
- Dogs of Chernobyl, affiliated with the Clean Futures Fund, cares for roughly 700 strays in the exclusion zone, where radiation levels remain well above human safety limits.