Russia's blue and green dogs go viral

Two packs of mysteriously coloured canines caused a stir on social media after they were discovered in two separate locations

Stray dogs with bright green fur have recently been sighted in Podolsk, an industrial town 37 kilometres south of Moscow, Russia Getty Images

The dogs had been spotted near an abandoned warehouse where sacks of powdered green paint were stored, said a Moscow regional minister. Getty Images

Vets who examined the Podolsk dogs have not established what turned their fur green. Getty Images

However, vets said the green dogs appear healthy and friendly. There are suspicions that they were painted green for a prank. Getty Images

Days before the green dogs were sighted, photos of a pack of blue stray dogs in Dzerzhinsk went viral. The blue canines were brought to a vet's surgery in Nizhny Novgorod. Getty Images

The blue dogs had been roaming near a derelict glass factory, and it is thought they rolled around in powdered blue dye. Reuters

Vets say the blue dogs have been eating well, though there are concerns that they may be contaminated with a toxic chemical, such as copper sulphate. Reuters

Two packs of stray dogs with bright blue and green fur have been found in a separate pair of derelict industrial units hundreds of kilometres apart in Russia.

The animals are being examined by vets, who are trying to discover the cause of the discolouration.

While no firm conclusion has yet been reached, there is speculation that the dogs with blue fur had rolled around in powdered dye at a derelict plant in Dzerzhinsk, an industrial city near Nizhny Novgorod, which had been producing acrylic glass and prussic acid. They were found on February 13.

Similarly, their green counterparts were found roaming around an abandoned warehouse where sacks of powdered green paint had apparently been stored, in Podolsk, more than 400km away, on Thursday.

Photos of the animals have gone viral, sparking some to suggest the green dogs, discovered later, had been painted by pranksters to mimic their blue counterparts.