Animal behaviorist to discuss trip to Chernobyl

The Ridgefield Library is hosting animal behaviorist Stephen Quandt in a Zoom program at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The program is about a trip that Quandt previously made to Chernobyl, Russia, 35 years after the nuclear accident there and what he found.

Quandt traveled to Chernobyl to participate in a spay/neuter and research campaign for the dogs that were descended from the pets that were left behind after the plant disaster of 1986.

Quandt will tell the story of meeting with inhabitants of the abandoned city Chernobyl, the abandoned city Pripyat, also in Russia, and the dogs and the cats that they encountered.

Attendees of the virtual program will also meet two squatters, one of which is a hero of the event, which took place, April 26, 1986.

Quandt will also discuss and show radiation being detected, including on some dogs and the effect of the environment on their lives.

Attendees of the program will also meet some inhabitants of the city, Slavutych.

The town was built in the year following the accident to house the inhabitants of Pripyat after they were evacuated, according to information from the Ridgefield Library.

The chronicle of events is a story of resilience, hope, life, and heroism.

A question and answer session will follow the program.

Quandt is a feline behaviorist, who has most recently been the feline behavior coordinator for the Animal Care Centers of NYC, and of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ASPCA.org.