Amerika

From the Leap into Life department:

Radiation has affected animals living near the site of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster far more than was previously thought, a study showed Wednesday, challenging beliefs that local wildlife was on the rebound.

The study showed that numbers of bumble-bees, butterflies, spiders, grasshoppers and other invertebrates were lower in contaminated sites than other areas because of high levels of radiation left over from the blast more than 20 years ago.

The researchers also found that animals living near the Chernobyl reactor — which was covered in a protective shell after it exploded in April 1986 — had more deformities, including discoloration and stunted limbs, than normal.

“Usually (deformed) animals get eaten quickly, as it’s hard to escape if your wings are not the same length,” Moller said. “In this case we found a high incidence of deformed animals.”

Reuters

You mean all of those uplifting stories about Chernobyl wildlife being happy were a bunch of hooey? How could it be that we were mislead, and so willingly, too.