Rays of kindness: a scientist from the USA sacrificed his career to save abandoned dogs in Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster affected not only people, but also animals left for certain death. The soldiers were forced to carry out mass shootings of quadrupeds, which in an instant lost shelter, food and loving owners. Most were killed, but there were many who managed to escape a terrible fate. They found themselves in a dead zone, in the midst of ruins and ringing emptiness.

Dozens of homeless animals still live in Chernobyl. Lucas Hixson is one of the few volunteers who give care and warmth to those who have been left without kind hands.The sensational drama "Chernobyl" showed both mass evacuation, and terrible deaths from radiation sickness, and the struggle with the consequences of the explosion, but the shooting of dogs remains one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the series. These shocking moments at the end of the film are recreated quite accurately.

But the soldiers failed to kill all the dogs in the exclusion zone. After people left their homes on the territory of 2590 sq. km, many pets survived and began to wander around the dead city in search of food.

Today, dogs walk freely through the streets of abandoned towns and villages, suffer from hunger, cold and attacks by wolves living in the forests around Chernobyl. It is for this reason that Lukas Hixson came to Ukraine. A scientist who used to deal with radiation issues sacrificed his career to take care of Ukrainian dogs.

Every day he drives around the perimeter of an abandoned nuclear power plant and the territory nearby to feed hungry animals. The volunteer keeps in touch with veterinarians for vaccination, sterilization and treatment of sick and injured dogs and cats.

Excursions to the exclusion zone are becoming more popular, so even more new objects are being opened for visitors. Tourists were allowed to enter the very control room of the fourth block, where the radiation level exceeds the permissible norm by tens of thousands of times. Now everyone will be able to see the place where the main events of the Chernobyl disaster unfolded.