Environmental News 2.12.14 Part V: Bear all a-glow in exclusion zone - No, not really. Well the local people may not be allowed to the disaster zone that was the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine but the animals know no boundaries and for the first time in over 100 years a brown bear has been photographed by camera traps set up by British scientists from TREE (Transfer, Exposure, Effects) to study the area. The brown bear is by far from the first large mammal discovered to be stalking the 30km-radius Chernobyl Exclusion Zone but TREE’s cameras have also recorded spotted lynxes, grey wolves, wild boar, elk, horses and otters living in the deserted area. “We are basically working on the assumption that as you move people out of the equation and human pressure and disturbance is removed, then any animals that have a corridor into the exclusion zone find they are suddenly away from the pressures and dangers presented by people.” Said TREE’s leader Mike Wood who added that following the disaster in 1986 more than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes around the power station. “Our research programme aims to reduce uncertainty in estimating the risk to humans and wildlife associated with exposure to radioactivity and to reduce unnecessary conservatism in risk calculations.’’ He said. “…and soon we are going to trap and collar one particular species of animal in the zone and then track their movement over the course of a year to get a real measurement of the exact radiation exposure that these animals get.” He went on to explain that the current methods for estimating the effects of radiation exposure on animals are too simplistic because they do not consider how animals utilize their environment. “Animal migration patterns, proximity to bodies of water, and eating habits can all influence exposure to radiation in a radiation-saturated environment.” dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2855695/Brown-bear-spotted-Chernobyl-Exclusion-Zone-time-100-years.html
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:05:21 +0000
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