Chernobyl Camera Traps Reveal War’s Impact on Wildlife

Suite à la catastrophe nucléaire de 1986, les environs de la centrale de Tchernobyl sont devenus un refuge pour de nombreuses espèces animales. Des chercheurs ont récemment documenté les effets de la présence des forces russes dans la zone d’exclusion en 2022.

Significant changes documented across multiple species

Entering the zone on February 24, 2022, at the outset of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army left at the end of March 2022, allowing Ukrainian forces to retake control. Analyzing numerous images captured by camera traps scattered through the forests of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone helped assess the effects of this unusual human activity on wildlife.

By cross-referencing these photographs with the daily reports from residents and others who continued to work in the zone during its occupation, Svitlana Kudrenko, from the University of Fribourg, and her colleagues highlighted notable changes in the behaviors of several species, which intensified over the following weeks.

The team notably documented a surge in observations of red deer (Cervus elaphus), moving in herds across open landscapes, and a sharp decline in roe deer, more solitary and favoring wooded environments. Like the red foxes, red deer also showed markedly more diurnal activity, probably linked to troop and vehicle movements.

📢📰A #study on #wildlife in the #Chornobyl Exclusion Zone during the #RussianOccupation featured in @nytimes! This research is based on data collected as part our project. https://t.co/MEyrZbVQmT

— Polesia – Wilderness Without Borders (@wildpolesia) July 10, 2026

While wild boar and raccoon dog tended to avoid areas where soldiers were stationed throughout the occupation, lynx and foxes moved closer as the Russian presence intensified, suggesting they may have been drawn by the availability of food.

A troubling situation

According to the authors of the new study, published in the journal Science, such observations, over a period as short as this, once again illustrate our disproportionate impact on the most pristine ecosystems.

A situation all the more worrying in the Chornobyl area, known for sheltering rare animals such as Przewalski’s horses.

Earlier this year, research focusing on hundreds of Ukrainian stray dogs, living both in war-affected regions and in areas relatively spared from conflict, revealed that the latter tended to be smaller in girth, with pointier ears and longer muzzles—traits more “wild,” typically associated with wolves.