Where the Wild Things Are

The sky lit up with careless ease,

We left you as we fled the scene.

A distant whisper in the trees,

The sky lit up with careless ease.

Our selfish whim you did appease,

And reappeared as if from dream.

The sky lit up with careless ease,

We left you as we fled the scene.

 

Photographs of animals visiting the remote cameras in the CEZ (Photo Credit: Sarah C Webster, Michael E Byrne, Stacey L Lance, Cara N Love, Thomas G Hinton, Dmitry Shamovich, James C Beasley. Where the wild things are: influence of radiation on the distribution of four mammalian species within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2016; DOI: 10.1002/fee.1227).
Photographs of animals visiting the remote cameras in the CEZ (Photo Credit: Sarah C Webster, Michael E Byrne, Stacey L Lance, Cara N Love, Thomas G Hinton, Dmitry Shamovich, James C Beasley. Where the wild things are: influence of radiation on the distribution of four mammalian species within the Chernobyl Exclusion ZoneFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2016; DOI: 10.1002/fee.1227).

 

This is a Triolet, written about recent research done by scientists from the University of Georgia, who used remote-camera surveys to show that 30 years on from the Chernobyl disaster there is an abundance of wildlife in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Rather than the radiation levels, they found that other habitat-related and anthropogenic factors (such as farming practices and the presence, or not, of humans) appeared to be the main drivers of occupancy by the animals in certain areas.

An audio version of the poem can be heard here.

 

2 thoughts on “Where the Wild Things Are”

  1. We just need to get out of the way! Gaia such a powerful life force… Thank’s for the poem – and drawing attention to the research. Phil

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