Wild dogs turn green in 'toxic' tip

A pack of wild dogs in Russia have turned green amid concerns they have been exposed to toxic waste.

The animals, thought to be former guard dogs, have long been known to scavenge for food at a tip on the outskirts of the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia.

But about 20 of the strays have suddenly turned a bizarre shade of green.

"Either local residents or a factory have been dumping some kind of chemical waste there," local news service RIA Novosti reported a police spokesman as saying.

A local resident said he initially thought someone was playing a practical joke when he saw the coloured hounds in the snow.

"I go past those dogs every day," Alexei Bukharovsky said.

"They are usually reddish...but then I saw, running along the white snow, an almost completely emerald dog."

The local council has been asked to clean up the dump.