ORF-E
English
1 x 45 min
Available worldwide except for Germany and the USA

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, an updated version of the acclaimed documentary “Radioactive Wolves” returns to a place that once stood as a symbol of horror and later transformed into a unique natural laboratory unlike any other in the world. While humans were forced to abandon the contaminated land, wolves, bison and other wildlife reclaimed the terrain and developed remarkable resilience. International researchers documented an ecosystem that flourished in the absence of human influence, until war changed everything. The Russian invasion of Ukraine turned this open-air biological laboratory into a military conflict zone. Research equipment was destroyed, samples were lost, and scientific work came to a standstill. Biologists like Maryna Shkvyria now face the ruins of decades of research. At the same time, findings by U.S. scientist Cara Love point to possible genetic mutations that may make the wolves’ blood more resistant to cancer – a lead of enormous significance for human medicine, yet currently frozen in place. The updated “Radioactive Wolves” reveals a world in which nature steadily reclaims its territory, while human actions continue to threaten this fragile new beginning.