Landmine kills endangered Przewalski's wild horse in Chornobyl

A wild horse of the Przewalski breed, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, has been killed by a Russian mine in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. (Red Book of Ukraine is the official national red list of the threatened animals, plants and fungi which are protected by law in Ukraine - ed.). The animal has been killed on the territory of the Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve, which was occupied by Russian forces in 2022, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service (SBGS) reported. Border guards heard a mine explosion as they were performing tasks within the exclusion zone.

While checking the area with a drone, they noticed a dead horse in the protected area.

"Border guards acoustically documented the fact of a mine explosion within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. As it turned out, a landmine had killed a wild horse of the Przewalski breed, and the relevant organisations were notified," the SBGS said. Przewalski's horse is the last remaining species of wild horse on Earth.

It is considered extinct in nature (in Europe since the 19th century and in Asia since the 20th century). It is also the only representative of a number of ungulates in Ukraine's wild fauna whose herds were acclimatised in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Background: This is not the first time that wild animals listed in the Red Data Book have been killed due to Russian aggression.

Some Red Data Book hamsters were found hanged at Russian positions in Kherson Oblast in 2022. In the summer of 2023, over a hundred bodies of Red Book newts were found in Odesa Oblast. They had been killed when the Russians blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.

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