In Chernobyl, an elk was pulled from a radioactive lake, the Kyiv police reports. According to the report, the animal was in a contaminated reservoir between the fourth and fifth power units of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant. A group of the police, the state emergency service, and the radiation-ecological biosphere reserve staff immediately arrived to save the elk. The animal was already unconscious. The rescuers in a boat came up to him, and the horns pulled to the ground. At the present moment, the elk is not in danger.
It should be reminded that the Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident which occurred during a late-night safety test in 1986. The accident is considered the most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history. Moreover, it is one of only two nuclear energy accidents classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.
The largest share of radiation was taken by a pine forest located near the power station. Most of the trees died because of high radiation doses, and the rest was painted brown-red, therefore, now they are called “red forest.” However, over the years since the accident, the vegetation has gradually recovered and wild animals started to return to the forest.
