Animals live well without owners and do not need milking – their lactation cycle is normalized and tied to the birth of calves.
Near Chernobyl, in Polissya, lives a herd of cattle that became wild after the death of their owners, self-settlers. They graze in the wild, do not hurt the calves and do not need to be milked. They told about the free and independent cows in the Chernobyl radiation-ecological biosphere reserve, whose employees observe the life of the herd.
Cows of the Ukrainian Black-and-White dairy breed common in Polissya belong to two families of self-settlers who settled in Chernobyl and in the village of Lubyanka near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 2016, their owners died, the herd began to live in freedom and gradually became wild. At the beginning of the war, it grew to 20 heads.
Cows have learned to live without humans, because their ancestors came from the wild. After some time, the animals became so wild that when a person or a car appeared, they began to quickly run away to the nearest thicket. Without owners and a shepherd, they live well, according to the reserve staff – this was confirmed by monitoring by scientists and photos from camera traps.
There are many abandoned buildings in the territory of the exclusion zone, where cattle roam to protect themselves from wind, rain and snow. They find food for themselves, because there is enough food in the territory of the reserve: even in winter, when it snows, the animals dig dry grass with their hooves. In addition, cows do not need to be milked, unlike domestic cows: their lactation cycle is normalized and tied to the birth of calves.
“Since the end of 2018, the specialists of the reserve have been monitoring the unique inhabitants of the zone. Their conclusion is that the cows are healthy and able to protect themselves and their legs,” said the employees.
Recall that freed from the occupation of the Chernobyl zone, a brown bear was recorded twice in 2022. The animal was captured by a camera trap on May 24 and August 19, 2022.
news Correspondent.net on Telegram. Subscribe to our channel Athletistic
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.