Very Special Episodes: The Dogs of Chernobyl

Astray

iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Religion

4.4 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Russia invaded Ukraine, hundreds of starving dogs were trapped inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. For years, Oregon-based veterinarian Dr. Jenn Betz had been their lifeline. Now, with Putin’s troops occupying the site, she had only one thought: How do I get back there?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.3	Guaranteed human.
0:10.3	It's 5 a.m. in Portland, Oregon, when Dr. Jen Betts's phone starts buzzing.
0:17.6	At first, it's just a couple of notifications.
0:25.6	Then more. A. just a couple of notifications. Then, more, a cascade of alerts. I woke up at 5 o'clock or so in the morning with my phone just going off crazy, boom, boom, boom.
0:33.6	Half asleep, she reaches for her phone and scrolls through the flood of texts.
0:41.3	It's February 24th, 2022.
0:45.3	Everybody was texting and saying, you know, Russia had just invaded Ukraine.
0:49.3	For Jen, this isn't just breaking news.
0:53.3	Ukraine is like her second home.
0:56.0	So it was a very scary moment.
0:58.0	Jen starts texting her friends there, checking in, anxious for replies.
1:03.5	But her messages hang unread.
1:06.5	It was very difficult trying to get information a long moment until we were able to find out what was going on.
1:11.6	Later she would watch CCTV footage that explained why.
1:16.6	Everything was cut off.
1:17.6	The first thing they did was cut off all communication.
1:20.6	The camera catches tanks barreling down a road outside Chernobyl.
1:28.0	Plumes of diesel smoke curl into the air.
1:31.5	One after another, armored vehicles roll through,
1:35.8	a Russian convoy stretching for miles,
1:39.0	armored trucks, fuel tankers, missile launchers.
	...

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