Filmmaker Drew Scanlon (who also happens to be the blinking white guy in a meme used to express incredulity all over the internet) made a short documentary about the animals that roam the contaminated Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), Motherboard reported Wednesday.
When reactor 4 exploded at Chernobyl in present-day Ukraine in 1986, people evacuated so fast that many were forced to leave behind their pets. Now, 30 years later, the descendants of those abandoned animals live in the deserted patch of land 1,000 miles around the plant.
Puppies of Chernobyl features a few of the estimated 900 stray dogs considered to be radioactive in the area. The film is part of Scanlon’s travel series called Cloth Map.
According to the documentary, visitors are told not to touch the dogs because they could carry dangerous radioactive particles in their fur. This makes for heartbreaking clips of pups who seem to really want a belly rub.
Watch Puppies of Chernobyl below.
If you want to help the fallout puppies, check out one of the fundraising efforts to provide medical care and comfort to the dogs of Chernobyl.
H/T Motherboard