Fig 1.
(a) Diagram of experimental approach. (b) Diagram of experimental hardware and systems. Native dogs were collected and initially triaged before being measured. Numbered, thermoluminescent dosimeter-equipped ear tags (c) were place on dogs during the TNR campaign as part of a related study.
Fig 2.
Understanding the Chernobyl region of interest.
(a) Map of Chernobyl exclusion zone (2016) and 10 km radius inner circle. (b) Exploded view of points of interest (orange circles) within 10 km radius inner circle centered on the ChNPP (red diamond), colored by 137Cs contamination (2014). (Access: https://harvard-cga.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html).
Table 1.
Instances of internal activity detection as determined by the whole-body counting experiment.
Note that the 2017 experiment had a detection threshold of approximately 100 Bq/kg, whereas the 2018 revision was sensitive to approximately 30 Bq/kg.
Fig 3.
Dosimetry and analysis of wild dogs.
(a) 21/288 animals surveyed as part of the 2017 and 2018 programs had external contamination above the threshold (100 cpm on Ludlum 26-2, equivalent to 95 Bq per 100 cm2 area, 90Sr). The distribution of this contamination is shown here. (b) Scatter plot of the animal body-burden as a function of body mass for the 2017 (peach) and 2018 (purple) campaign. Animals in 2017 with activity less than 100 Bq/kg are excluded. Animals in 2018 with activity less than 30 Bq/kg are excluded. External contamination is shown in this plot using squares, the size of which is correlated to the reported measurement in counts per minute using the Ludlum 26-2 probe on contact.