The eerie wilds of Chernobyl

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

Jackie Friedman's avatar
Lauren Hansen's avatar
By ,
Last updated
A white-tailed eagle lands on a wolf's carcass.
A 1986 aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
(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)

A white-tailed eagle sits on an abandoned school's roof just 19 miles from the exclusion zone in Tulgovichi, Belarus, on Jan. 29, 2016. The Chernobyl exclusion zone is an officially designated area that spreads out approximately 1,000
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

Wild boars walk in the forest of the state radiation ecology reserve in the exclusion zone near the village of Babchin, Belarus, on Feb. 22, 2011.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

A white-tailed eagle lands on a wolf's carcass in the exclusion zone in the abandoned village of Dronki, Belarus, on Feb. 15, 2016.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

Moose peek through the brush near the abandoned village of Dronki, Belarus, on Jan. 28, 2016.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

Birds nests dot the trees in a park outside the village of Babchin, Belarus, on Jan. 26, 2016.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

Wolves walk in the exclusion zone in the abandoned village of Orevichi, Belarus, on Feb. 25, 2016.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

Bison meander in the exclusion zone near the abandoned village of Dronki, Belarus, on Jan. 28, 2016.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

A white-tailed eagle picks the carcass of a fox near the village of Babchin, Belarus, on Jan. 12, 2009.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko))

A moose runs in the exclusion zone near the village of Babchin, Belarus, on Jan. 27, 2016.
(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.