Reindeer’s antlers would surely make for some nice-looking glow-sticks that would make the animals more visible at night, in order for drivers to avoid the frequent accidents that these cause. That’s why, in the northern part of Finland, they have begun spraying them with glow-in-the-dark paint to see how it all pans out.
Anne Ollila, head of the country’s Reindeer Herders Association, explained to The Guardian that they record some 3,000 to 5,000 accidents involving the animals each year, adding that “it’s much deadlier for the reindeer than for the drivers.”
In the near future, “we are hoping that it is so useful that we can use the spray in the entire region and on all reindeer, from young to old,” she said around one week after the pilot part of the program was started, with the antlers of 20 animals having already been sprayed white; their noses could use a bit of red…
If this actually works and causes no harm to the animals, perhaps it could be adopted in other countries where this is a problem – neighboring Russia, for instance, has many crazy road-crossing moose that could be saved in this way.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Autoblog-nl
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