In a curious turn of events, dogs with striking blue fur have been spotted in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, leaving many baffled and searching for answers.
Images captured earlier this year reveal these uniquely colored canines roaming the historic site of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine. The photos sparked a flurry of online chatter, with theories ranging from radiation-induced mutations to otherworldly explanations.
However, a scientific advisor involved with caring for these strays has debunked such theories, stating they are far from reality.
“The blue fur is likely the result of dogs rolling in the dye from an overturned portable toilet, a behavior typical to dogs,” explained Timothy Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, as shared on the Dogs of Chernobyl Facebook page.
Photos of these blue-furred dogs were initially shared online, showcasing their unusual appearance at the site of the infamous nuclear incident. (Clean Futures Fund via Storyful)
Mousseau compared this tendency to a common canine habit of being attracted to cat litter boxes, suggesting the behavior is not as strange as it might seem.
“The blue coloration was simply a sign of the dog’s unsanitary behavior!” Mousseau said. “As any dog owner knows, most dogs will eat just about anything, including feces!”
Despite the social media speculation, the dogs’ blue fur does “not reflect any kind of mutation or evolutionary adaptation to radiation,” he added.
Dogs of Chernobyl, the program that cares for the roughly 700 dogs in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, first shared images of the blue-tinted dogs in October. (Clean Futures Fund via Storyful )
Dogs of Chernobyl, the program that cares for the roughly 700 dogs in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and is affiliated with the nonprofit Clean Futures Fund (CFF), first shared images of the blue-tinted dogs in October.
At the time, the group had been unable to capture the animals to determine the source of their unusual coloring.
“We are on the ground catching dogs for sterilization, and we came across three dogs that were completely blue,” Dogs of Chernobyl posted to Instagram. “We are not sure exactly what is going [on]. … We do not know the reason, and we are attempting to catch them so we can find out what is happening.”
FILE PHOTO: Two stray dogs with bright blue fur walk along the street. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Many dogs were left behind following the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion, when more than 120,000 evacuees were told to leave immediately, according to CFF.
“The evacuees were not allowed to bring anything that they could not carry, and their pets had to be left behind,” the CFF website notes. “They were told they would return in 3 days, but they were never allowed to return. Their pets became abandoned.”
Timothy Mousseau did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
