Dogs of Chernobyl, under the non-profit Clean Future Funds, found that three stray dogs in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone mysteriously turned blue earlier in October.

"We are on the ground catching dogs for sterilization and we came across three dogs that were completely blue. We are not sure exactly what is going [on]," the organization wrote in an Instagram post on Oct. 13.

The group said that they are trying to catch the canines to find out what's happening and added that the dogs may have gotten into chemicals.

Meanwhile, the Clean Futures Fund has shut down claims that the photos are faked or that the organization sprayed the dogs blue.

"These photos were taken by Darrin, the lead of our catching team," they said in a post on Oct. 17. "All of our photos are geo-tagged."

The project's Veterinary Medical Director, Dr. Jennifer Betz, also shed some light on the matter.

"They appear to have been rolling in a substance that had accumulated on their fur," Betz told science outlet IFLScience.

"We are suspecting that this substance was from an old portable toilet that was in the same location as the dogs. However, we were unable to positively conifrm our suspicions."

Betz added that the organization is not saying that the blue fur is related to the radiation in Chernobyl, as the dogs appear healthy.

"I would suspect, as long as they don't lick the majority of the substance off of their fur, it would be mostly harmless," she said.

This wouldn't be the first time blue dogs have been spotted, as they were photographed near Dzerzhinsk, Russia in February 2021. 

At the time, Humane Society International's Vice President of Companion Animals Kelly O'Meara said that the street dogs' fur was discolored as they were living near an abandoned chemical plant.

"The dye on their fur implies they have had direct contact with or even ingestion of potentially toxic or harmful substances," she said, as per Newsweek.

In 1986, a reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat in the Soviet Union exploded and spread radioactive material in the area. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 67,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the contaminated area. The residents were not allowed to bring anything, even their pets. Later on, an area spanning 30 kilometers around the plant, called the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, was created and left uninhabited.

The Clean Futures Fund estimates that over 250 stray dogs live near the Chernobyl power plant, while over 225 live in the city. The organization's Dogs of Chernobyl program spays, neuters, and vaccinates dogs in the area.