Interesting

[dcmfox]

Farmers in Finland use reflective paint on deer antlers to keep drivers safe and wildlife visible at night.

— Dcmfox (@dcmfox.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T18:41:22.115Z

[Bayard]

1. What a great idea!

I don't think the white tails here would go for it though.

[Bev54]

2. I would be afraid that unscrupulous hunters or assholes with guns would make a game of

shooting them at night.

[twodogsbarking]

5. Where I grew up, in America, for sure.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Once, in 2014. And that image on the right is not how they looked.

https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/finland-did-paint-some-reindeers-antlers-with-reflective-paint-but-social-medi-idUSL1N2OP2K9/

A digital artwork showing a reindeer with orange-glowing antlers has tricked users on social media into thinking it is a real photograph .
Most posts accompanying the image refer to real efforts in a region of Finland in 2014 to reduce reindeer road deaths by painting their antlers with reflective paint. The image accompanying the true story, however, is not a real photograph.

[sl8]

4. Fact Check: Finland did paint some reindeers' antlers with reflective paint, but social media posts feature digital artw

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/19/fact-check-photo-doesnt-show-finlands-reflective-reindeer-antlers/7971862002/

Image in post was made using 3D software

There's no doubt that the image attached to the post helped it go viral. But it's an illustration, done entirely using 3D software.

Truth or Fiction, a research-based, myth-busting website, found that Katro, a visual designer with over 127,000 followers on Instagram, posted the artwork in February 2020. As Katro notes in the post's caption, the idea came from an article about Finland's spray-paint experiment.

“(The photo) is not real but I was inspired by the story I read on this last year,” Katro told USA TODAY over Instagram.

This is an illustration that visual designer Vasjen Katro made entirely using 3D software. After he posted it on Instagram in February 2020, some social media users claimed it was a real photo of an experiment in which Finnish reindeer herders sprayed reflective paint into reindeers' antlers.
The viral Facebook post initially didn't mention that the photo used is a 3D graphic or credited Katro. However, the author updated the post on July 15 to include that information.

News outlets that covered the Finnish reindeer experiment have posted real photos of the reindeer. There are a few differences between the real photos and the version that Facebook users have attached to posts.

The paint in Katro's illustration appears to glow on its own, but only outside sources of light like a car's headlights can illuminate the real reflective paint. And the Reindeer Herder's Association also tested the spray paint on the animals' coats, so it could be seen on their backs and in speckles on the rest of their bodies.

[...]

==============================

https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/finland-did-paint-some-reindeers-antlers-with-reflective-paint-but-social-medi-idUSL1N2OP2K9/

Fact Check: Finland did paint some reindeers’ antlers with reflective paint, but social media posts feature digital artwork

By Reuters Fact Check
July 13, 2021 4:01 PM EDT Updated July 13, 2021

======

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/reindeer-glow-in-the-dark-antlers/

Is This a Reindeer with Glow-in-the-Dark Antlers?

A meme about reindeer with glow-in-the-dark antlers shows that truth and fiction sometimes come together in strange ways.
Dan Evon
Published July 12, 2021

https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/

[...]

==================

https://phys.org/news/2016-06-reindeer-herders-finland-app-road.html

Glowing antlers failed, so Finns try app to save reindeer

by Matti Huuhtanen

Finnish reindeer herders in the Arctic have painted Rudolph's antlers in fluorescent colors, hung reflectors around their necks and even used movable traffic signs, but none of the efforts have helped reduce the annual 4,000 reindeer road deaths.

Now they have decided on a new tactic: an interactive reindeer warning app where drivers can tap their mobile phone screens to register any reindeer they see and get warnings if they are approaching an area where reindeers have been spotted. They're hoping to save at least some of the 300,000 reindeer that wonder freely in the wilds of Lapland, sometimes described as the last wilderness in Europe.

In a pilot project, drivers of heavy transport vehicles are being given 1,000 free handsets, which have been deactivated for any other use than the reindeer warning system. If it proves successful, the app will be available for download on smartphones later this year.

Anne Ollila, director of the Finnish Reindeer Herders' Association, said Wednesday the other methods simply didn't work.

[...]

[calimary]

6. I hope it works.

Shit - I hope SOMETHING works!

[SpankMe]

7. I'm not sure defacing wild animals is a good idea

I know the intent is to save them, but we don't know how it will affect them in nature.

I recall several decades ago when environmentalists tried to apply some kind of paint or permanent dye to live seals in the wild to discourage hunters from killing them for their pelts. They couldn't paint enough of them to make much of a difference, and animal experts were concerned about how the chemicals in the dye would affect the animals' health and speculated that it could negatively impact natural breeding. (Juvenile Harp seals had a hard time getting dates with their white fur painted fluorescent orange.)

The impact on breeding was speculative, and there weren't enough defaced seals to provide meaningful statistics on altered breeding and reproduction. But wildlife experts generally panned the practice and saw it more as wildlife harassment.

[ToxMarz]

8. I think more than painting ALL of them with some type of paint or dye,

which would be an impossible long term strategy, the effort was as much to create a 'viral' news story that would draw attention to the issue and gain support for their conservation efforts.

[Duppers]

9. My fear is that it would make

Them more visible to hunters.