Animals are always effected by the choices and products of humans. We build nuclear power plants and such, which produce harmful substances, that hurt the environment. The news has always been overwhelmed with the stories of oil spills hurting marine life and now there is news of nuclear damage being done to animals. According to ABC Science, there was a Ukraine nuclear disaster involving Chernobyl, which happened more then 20 years ago, that is still effecting wildlife. A quote from Biology Letters, in the Royal Society Journal, states that "[the] numbers of bumble-bees, butterflies, spiders, grasshoppers, and other invertebrates were lower in contaminated sites then other areas because of high levels of radiation left over". To think that something that happened such a  long time ago is still effecting our environment is shocking. It gets worse. If the animals did not die immediately from the disaster, many are now suffering with distorted limbs. This makes it a lot more challenging for the animals to find food or defend themselves. I think about all the other environmental issues we are facing and I am realizing that a lot of these could be long term effects. Harmful substance are emitted or accidental exposed into the environment every day and each one has a separate effect. Assuming this was an accidental Chernobyl disaster, it is still our responsibility to make up for it and fix it. Other disasters are being left uncared for. Wildlife is being harmed around the world and we need to be more careful and aware of our daily actions to help protect the wildlife. I was so upset to see this article on ABC Science!!! One thing after another is causing our world to fall apart. I may be opinionated, but it seems a lot of these "environmentally harmful" acts are caused by humans. When will we wake up and finally take action and fix it instead of just talking about?

To read more about the disaster, ABC Science has a lot of relating links including the following:

1) Chernobyl's effects