Dogs In Chornobyl are Mysteriously Turning Blue, But Radiation Is Not to Blame

Images of blue dogs in Chornobyl have been circulating around social media recently and are causing quite a stir. Don’t worry, the blue fur isn’t a result of radiation exposure after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. It may actually be the result of a chemical.

The dogs were first seen in early October 2025, and though they have yet to be caught and examined, experts believe they are not in any immediate danger and that the blue in their fur will likely wash away.

Spotting Chornobyl's Blue Dogs

Members of Dogs of Chernobyl first spotted the blue dogs — a program that’s part of the Clean Futures Fund — while they were out performing a routine catch, sterilize, and release campaign within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ).

Many dogs remained in the CEZ after the explosion and have since repopulated the area. Dogs of Chernobyl has been working since 2017 to help spay, neuter, and vaccinate these dogs. To date, they have helped over 1,000 dogs and even cats living in the CEZ.

“During our week in Chornobyl city, Ukraine, October 5 to 13, 2025, we encountered three dogs that [appeared to have] been almost completely covered with a blue substance,” says Dr. Jennifer Betz, the Veterinary Medical Director for the Dogs of Chernobyl program with the Clean Futures Fund (a non-profit organization).

“We attempted several times to catch these dogs; however, these particular dogs are extremely fearful of people and need to be blow-darted to capture. We unfortunately [were] not successful in catching these particular dogs this time. They appear to have been rolling in a substance that had accumulated on their fur,” Betz continues.

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What Is Making the Chornobyl Dogs Blue?

While it may be easy to sensationalize the blue dogs living within the CEZ – assuming they have some sort of radioactive mutation – the real reason these dogs likely have blue fur is instead more comical.

While the team working with Dogs of Chernobyl was investigating the blue dogs, they came upon an old portable toilet, or porta-potty.

“We are suspecting that this substance was from an old portable toilet that was in the same location as the dogs; however, we were unable to positively confirm our suspicions,” says Betz.

Thanks to the photos of the blue dogs that have a geotag, the team accurately pinpointed the location of the dogs in conjunction with the portable toilet.

Many portable toilets contain a blue liquid that serves as a deodorizer, and they suggest the dogs may have rolled in it. However, until the team can catch and analyze one of the blue Chornobyl dogs, they won’t know for sure what caused the blue fur.

Chornobyl's Colorful Dogs

Seeing splashes of color like this on Chornobyl dogs isn’t all that uncommon. While the Dogs of Chernobyl team is out catching and treating these dogs, they often add a color marker to each dog's head to indicate which dog has been treated. However, the team stresses that the recent blue dogs are not due to this temporary dye.

“During our sterilization campaign, we apply a temporary crayon marker on the top of their head in the color green, red, blue, or purple, to identify which dogs we have recently performed surgery on,” Betz says.

“This washes off in 2 to 3 days. This coloring is only on top of their head[s] and is completely different from the dogs that we encountered that were almost covered head to toe in blue substance,” Betz adds.

Betz and the rest of the team with Dogs of Chernobyl implore that the blue dogs are not a result of radiation in Chornobyl and that the dogs are active and doing well.

“The dogs appear healthy, as do all of the other dogs that we have encountered during our time in Chornobyl. I would suspect, as long as they don’t lick the majority of the substance off of their fur, it would be mostly harmless,” Betz concludes.

The Clean Futures Fund and Dogs of Chernobyl are working to create a better future for the animals in the CEZ.

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Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

• This article references information published in The Clean Futures Fund