The eerie wilds of Chernobyl

Thirty years after the devastating nuclear disaster, animals are thriving where people no longer live

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A white-tailed eagle lands on a wolf's carcass.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Volodymyr Repik)In the wake of the explosion in what is now Ukraine, the Soviet Union was painfully slow to react, calling the "radiation situation" merely an "accident." Residents)

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko)Editor's note: A previous version of this article misidentified a species. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.)

Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.