The Dogs that Survived 

The unexpected relationship between hundreds of stray dogs and human guards in the Exclusion Zone surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is the focus of research by a University of Cambridge academic, 36 years after the accident left an area of 1,000 sq. miles uninhabitable for up to 20,000 years.   

During his research, Jonathon Turnbull, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography, gave several disposable cameras to checkpoint guards in the Exclusion Zone and one to a shopkeeper working in a convenience store for workers, encouraging them to take pictures of their everyday lives with the dogs.

The purpose? To begin to understand their relationships with the stray dogs. "At first, they were quite shy and didn't know why someone wanted to talk to them about dogs,” says Turnbull, “but after a while they opened up. Involving them in the project by giving them cameras was a turning point. This started lots of conversations and allowed them to narrate the dogs' lives on their own terms.”

In the years since the disaster, the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone which crosses Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus has, if accidentally,  become a haven for wildlife according to some scientists. 

While not technically ‘wildlife’, the Zone’s free-roaming dogs are suspected to have descended from the hundreds of family pets abandoned in the scramble to leave the area around Chornobyl following the release of radioactive material in April 1986. Many of the domestic animals that were left behind were killed by Soviet soldiers assuming they were contaminated, but some hid and survived in the wild, and their descendants now roam the Zone over three decades later.

Today there are over 500 dogs living at different locations around the Zone. After being driven out of the wilderness by hunger and predators and towards the areas where humans work, the dogs are now managed by the Clean Futures Fund (CFF), an American non-governmental organisation which controls their “overpopulation” with spay/neuter programmes and monitors the dogs’ health.

Turnbull adds, “I think telling the stories of the guards' relationships with the dogs is really important as it gives people an idea of what everyday life looks like in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster. But more importantly, the photovoicing technique allowed them to tell their own story, rather than have it depicted by an outsider.”

One of the guards noted that his favourite photo was one which showed the dogs being fed leftover food, and another said, “I made a house […] for the dogs to have a place to hide from snow and rain.” What is shown here is the hospitality given to the dogs by the guards despite a worker noting “they are not our dogs personally.”

The dogs’ “wildness” and “territoriality” is discussed by the guards, too, with the shop worker noting that “the dogs get jealous when new dogs arrive,” and that they will fiercely defend their territory. Yet another guard asks, “why are they wild?” He paints a picture that could be seen in homes with dogs across the world: “they live here, they communicate with tourists, they even learned commands from an early age.” The same guard went on to point out that if the dogs were indeed wild, they could run away and live elsewhere at any time, yet they choose not to. 

The dogs seem to have a choice, and that choice is to stay close to food, shelter and company. 

While the landscape will remain uninhabitable for many years to come, it is clear that for some of the guards and workers in the Zone, the dogs provide something resembling a sense of home and normality in what has been described as an “apocalyptic Eden.” 

The Zone itself has iconic status within popular culture and was a popular tourist destination before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The dogs have become quite the attraction, too, gaining large followings on social media sites such as Instagram. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the dogs were livestreamed to paying customers on Airbnb, becoming a worldwide sensation.   

On 24th February 2022, Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine. Many Russian troops entered Ukraine via its northern border with Belarus, which involved coming right through the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Russian forces quickly took control of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding area. Five weeks later, the site was liberated by Ukrainian forces but remains highly mined. 

During the occupation, power plant workers were held hostage and were only occasionally allowed to change shifts. Russian troops dug trenches in highly contaminated forests, reportedly causing several acute health issues, while they looted expensive scientific and radiation monitoring equipment from premises all around the Zone.

During the occupation, images of emaciated dogs were broadcast by workers who were unable to properly care for the dogs. Despite a lack of sustenance, several new litters appeared around the time of the occupation, but many people working in the Zone had left and those living there as self-settlers had also moved. This meant the dogs weren’t receiving the regular care that they had become used to, and many had never learned to hunt or truly fend for themselves.

On 24th February 2022, Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine. Many Russian troops entered Ukraine via its northern border with Belarus, which involved coming right through the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Russian forces quickly took control of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding area. Five weeks later, the site was liberated by Ukrainian forces but remains highly mined. 

During the occupation, power plant workers were held hostage and were only occasionally allowed to change shifts. Russian troops dug trenches in highly contaminated forests, reportedly causing several acute health issues, while they looted expensive scientific and radiation monitoring equipment from premises all around the Zone.

During the occupation, images of emaciated dogs were broadcast by workers who were unable to properly care for the dogs. Despite a lack of sustenance, several new litters appeared around the time of the occupation, but many people working in the Zone had left and those living there as self-settlers had also moved. This meant the dogs weren’t receiving the regular care that they had become used to, and many had never learned to hunt or truly fend for themselves.

Working with his colleagues in Ukraine - Nikita Zarkh, Karolina Uskakovych, Boris Krichevsky, Eugene Rachkovsky, and Denis Melnik - Turnbull is currently working on a mixed media art and research project: The Dogs That Survived. The project consists of a photo exhibition, physical installation, and film. The film - which will be screened as part of The Cambridge Festival - tells the story of the dogs as the protagonists, showing what life looks like for them and their human carers in the Zone before and after the Russian invasion.

Join us at the Cambridge Festival for a special exhibition showcasing the unique relationship between the Chornobyl guards and the dogs that roam the Zone.

This article was first published in May 2021, it has been updated for the Cambridge Festival.