Dozens of dogs are bafflingly turning pink, green and blue in eastern Russia.
Vice reported that they were seen in a derelict industrial unit in the city of Podolsk, some 25 miles south of Moscow.
The peculiar occurrence happened in and around the town of Dzerzhinsk, about 242 miles east of Moscow, near the abandoned chemical plant of Dzerzhinskoye Orgsteklo, which once produced to radioactive hydrocyanic acid, which is also a main ingredient in the once widely used "Prussian blue" coloring.
Experts think that this information may help clarify why certain pups are now blue through-and-through, including their excrement, according to vets.
Dmitry Karelkin, head veterinarian of Zoozashchita veterinary hospital, reportedly blamed the blue hue on "some kind of chemical," without more precise information, and does not seem to have physically affected the animals.
In the meantime, examiners from Nizhny Novgorod State University's Lobachevsky Research Institute of Chemistry, as well as the Commission for State Veterinary Surveillance, detected "no signs of irritating chemical burns." However, blood and stool examination findings did not indicate major toxicity.
Reportedly, the blue dogs will remain under close surveillance for nearly 20 days. Meanwhile, according to East2West news agency, no announcements have been made to directly fix pooches that turn pink. Some are, however, pressing for an investigation into a chemical dump in another part of Dzerzhinsk, where, during the Cold War, 300,000 tons of radioactive waste were unloaded. Local news has implicated the nearby Kristall defense factory.
East2West has stated that the allegations are considered 'exaggerated' by city administrators.
Dogs also appear to turn pink, but authorities are still speculating about whether this could happen.
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Health Risk
The animals were otherwise safe and physically healthy, the state news agency RIA Novosti told the Russian Society for the Protection of Animals.
Sergei Voskrensky, Minister for Regional Food and Agriculture, said the dogs are actually friendly and were rather very sweet.
Only days after the pink ones were seen in a former chemical weapons-making town about 459 kilometers (285 miles) from Podolsk, the green dogs emerged.
One of the most polluted areas in the country, Dzerzhinsk, was also where seven blue strays were found earlier this month.
The pink ones were seen near the defense plant in Kristall, which produces explosives and ammunition, reports said.
Near the decrepit Dzerzhinskoye Orgsteklo factory, once a large chemical processing facility producing hydrocyanic acid and plexiglass, a total of seven strays were caught with blue skin and hair coloring.
Andrey Mislivets, the plant's bankruptcy manager, initially claimed that they had been contaminated with copper sulfate.
He also revealed that the dogs' excrement had come out blue.
Observation
Officials have since played down the outbreak as being caused by 'dye.'
Despite this, the 'blue dogs' remain under close monitoring, according to reports.
'The (blue) dogs are supervised,' said Karelkin 'They will stay with under monitoring for 20 days. Their skin and hair are all covered with the dye,' she added.
Analysis of the dogs' blood and excrement was undertaken at the Lobachevsky Research Institute of Chemistry at Nizhny Novgorod State University and the Committee for State Veterinary Surveillance, it was announced.
This found that the shocking coloring was not dangerous to their health.
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