Is it true that in Finland reindeer antlers are painted with reflective paint to reduce the number of accidents with them?

Over the past few months, a truly fabulous picture has been circulating on social networks: a deer with glowing antlers is standing in the middle of the road at night. Users claim that the photo was taken in Finland and depicts an animal whose antlers were specially painted with reflective paint to reduce the number of deer deaths on the roads. We decided to check if everything is really so.

“A deer in Finland whose antlers were coated with reflective paint to reduce the likelihood of being hit on the road. Looks fabulous." writes one of the Russian Pikabu users who shared a photo of a deer in July of this year. Less than a month has passed, and the post has already collected almost 5,000 likes.

And this is not the limit: in the English-speaking sector of Facebook this photo shared more than 50,000 people.

Finland actually once attempted to reduce the number of accidents involving reindeer. For this purpose, the horns were painted with special reflective paint. The idea was to warn drivers from afar about the appearance of an animal on the road during the short daylight hours, when most trips take place in the dark.

The experiment was carried out by a local reindeer herders association. Russian media also spoke about the initiative: “RIA Novosti", TJournal and even "Channel One" Only it was carried out in 2014.

Every year in Finland there are accidents dies up to 4,000 deer per year. This happens mainly in the autumn and winter months, when the roads are dark and slippery. Therefore, Finnish authorities are constantly trying to come up with ways to reduce the number of such deaths.

However, by 2016 it became clear that the idea with reflective paint did not bring the expected success. How reported Associated Press, After the initiative failed, Finnish authorities tried another method - a mobile app that would track moving groups of reindeer and warn drivers if any of them moved in the direction of the road. 

The idea worked. The mobile application is indeed partially reduced number of similar incidents.

One might think that the story is true, since Finnish reindeer herders actually painted the antlers of reindeer. The problem is that the actual photos of the animals that used reflective paint looked different.

The photo that social network users are now sharing is actually a 3D work by artist Vasien Cathro. The picture he shared on his Instagram in February 2020.

“It's 3D. This is not reality,” the artist signed his work, explaining that he was inspired by a real story from Finland.

Thus, although the story of such an initiative is real, the image itself that went viral on social networks is a work of fiction. Therefore, no matter how plausible the “photo” may seem to those who know about the Finnish initiative, it is a fake.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Fact Check-Finland did paint some reindeers’ antlers with reflective paint, but social media posts feature digital artwork
2. Glowing antlers failed, so Finns try app to save reindeer
3. Finnish phone app finds reindeer, helps to avoid road kill