Stray dogs with bright blue fur have been spotted roaming the streets near an abandoned chemical plant in the Russian city of Dzerzhinsk, Newsweek reports, about 230 miles east of Moscow.
People were very concerned about the potential exposure to dangerous chemicals that the dogs might have suffered.
The dogs were spotted by a factory site that produced plexiglass and hydrocyanic acid before it went bankrupt in 2015.
Dogs’ fur may also have been dyed with other chemicals, including copper sulfate, a bright blue inorganic compound used in a number of industrial processes.
They found some striking blue dogs in Russia, in the city of Dzerzhinsk an event occurred that puzzled more than one, they found a herd of dogs that aroused their astonishment, since they all had blue fur. pic.twitter.com/wu1GaAqUV9
— Moises Lopez (@chapoisat) February 16, 2021
In other words, it’s still unclear what the exact cause of the blue fur is — but it’s bad news for the wellness of the poor dogs regardless.
So far, officials in the city of Dzerzhinsk have taken the dogs to a nearby veterinarian for testing. Photos released by Reuters show the blue dogs being taken care of at a shelter in Nizhny Novogrod, a town an hour from Dzerzhinsk.