There have been massive increases in large carnivores in the nuclear wasteland around Chernobyl creating a complete ecosystem and one of Europe’s largest wildlife sanctuaries — and yet it’s radioactive. Where humans can’t live, nature is rebounding and somewhere in this vast nuclear wilderness, there are packs of radioactive wolves, living in an archaic structure that has vanished from other parts of Europe. Here they can thrive, here they can live like real wolves in large packs as they used to. Before 1986, the zone was heavily farmed and populated, and wolves were scarce. In less than 25 years there are an estimated 300+ wolves making the most of this deceptively beautiful landscape. But are these they mutants? Have they been affected by nuclear contamination after the 1986 explosion which released 100 times more radio-nuclides than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined?

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