Wolf fur grows thickest in winter, so Belarussian hunter Vladimir Krivenchik only sets his traps once snow is on the ground.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
He and his wife live on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone - 2,600 square km (1,000 square miles) of land on the Belarus-Ukraine border that was contaminated by a nuclear disaster in 1986.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
The zone's resurgent wolf population poses a threat to nearby livestock, so local farms pay hunters like Krivenchik a flat fee of 150 Belarussian roubles ($80) for each wolf they kill. He sells the pelts separately.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
Nikolay Skidan, a hunter.
This equates to about three-quarters of Krivenchik's monthly salary as a watchman at a granary, but he does not like to hunt year-round.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
"In the summer, I feel bad killing a wolf as their fur is so bad," he said.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
Every morning in winter, Krivenchik checks his traps and adjusts or moves them if they are empty. If a wolf is caught in the jaws of a trap, he kills it and takes it home for skinning.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
Krivenchik says no part of the animal goes to waste as the heart, leg-bones and other parts are sold for use in traditional medicine.
. Khrapkovo, BELARUS. Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
Wolf numbers are more than seven times higher in the Belarussian part of the Chernobyl zone than in uncontaminated areas elsewhere in the region, according to a study published in scientific journal Current Biology in 2015.
According to official data, about 1,700 wolves were culled in 2016.
