Even around Chernobyl, nature has a fighting chance for survival

Let’s start the early days of 2016 on a positive note. There’s still hope for nature — if it’s only given chance. And, it can get on fine without humans.

One of the more encouraging bits of news, during 2015, was that the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, evacuated in 1986 after a huge explosion and fire, has become a wildlife haven similar to nature reserves.

An examination of the massive, tree-clad area around the stricken plant showed it is full of large animals such as elk, roe deer, red deer, wild boar and wolves, despite being contaminated with radioactive fallout.