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Finland is painting deer antlers with reflective paint (2014)
- edelbitter 1y ago"none of the efforts have helped reduce the annual 4,000 reindeer road deaths" https://apnews.com/general-news-801aa30308b24b459251c60d569df33c https://apnews.com/general-news-801aa30308b24b459251c60d569d...
- altairprime 1y agoHave they had better luck with wildlife crossings since 2016? https://transportation.libguides.com/c.php?g=849313&p=6075361 https://transportation.libguides.com/c.php?g=849313&p=607536...
- Gigachad 1y agoSlowing speeds would work
- genewitch 1y agoI don't know reindeer but white tailed deer, possums, raccoons, rabbits, and nocturnal birds don't care how fast you're going. As someone else mentioned, you can be stopped and they'll run into your vehicle. None of these animals instincts prepared them for the cacophony and lightshow of transportation. Everyone doing 15mph might solve 90% though, but I'll let that be your running platform.
- sl-1 1y agoBut lower speeds do make crashes a lot less deadly. Probably also less probable, as people have more time to react
- HPsquared 1y agoIt doesn't follow that because the number didn't go down, that means the efforts did or didn't help. You need to think of the overall picture, are there other factors causing it to increase and would the number have been even higher without these efforts? The simple fact of the number not going down, doesn't really say much.
- timonoko 1y agoaka "Legal way to kill & steal a reindeer". That is why there are so many accidents.
- ReptileMan 1y agoThey make tasty snacks.
- aiauthoritydev 1y agoWorth risking insurance premiums going up or potential physical harm as well ?
- Onawa 1y agoGrill guards are a common sight in rural areas. I have known a few people of questionable moral character who have no issue aiming for deer/elk on the road and processing the meat themselves. https://a.co/d/d86EVHD https://a.co/d/d86EVHD
- FredPret 1y agoThat grill would work unless the deer gives a tiny hop - as they tend to do - and goes right into your windshield
- vintermann 1y agoReindeer don't hop very well, though.
- FredPret 1y agoI didn't know that about them. But deer do hop to windshield height, and moose may have to crouch a little to get there
- Moru 1y ago
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ReptileMan 1y agoWon't that make them prime target for predators? Wolves also love to munch. And a lighthouse proclaiming dinner is here won't be helping their chances of survival either.
- oe 1y agoDo wolves have a light source or what are the antlers reflecting in this scenario?
- lethal-radio 1y agoMoonlight, streetlights
- IAmBroom 1y agoReflections return to the source of the light. By definition. Are there wolves on the moon, or perched on streetlights?
- Moru 1y ago> Latest estimates indicate 32–38 wolf packs and 18–25 pairs of wolves in Finland as of March 2021. [0] > Finnish Lapland has a reindeer population of about 200,000. That’s 20,000 more reindeer than people! [1] [0] https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/news-in-brief/19376-finland-s-wolf-population-has-grown-by-16.html https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/news-in-brief/19376-fin... [1] https://www.lapland.fi/visit/meet-reindeer-ailo/year-of-the-reindeer-facts-fun/ https://www.lapland.fi/visit/meet-reindeer-ailo/year-of-the-...
- codr7 1y agoWon't that also make them trivial to hunt?
- Moru 1y agoIllegal to hunt domestic animals.
- aiauthoritydev 1y agoAnother approach could be to have wildlife camera all around and when you detect a deer on cam, show special signals on the road.
- Moru 1y agoThe reindeer is not randomly showing up out of the forest. They are herded. The people herding them is putting up plenty of signs. But the reindeers are not on the actual road the whole time so people stop bothering about the signs. And some just drive really fast and realize too late that the warning signs in the cars manual that says "This function does not stop the physical laws from working." might be correct. The raindeer is not affraid of cars, they just stand there doing nothing until they get hit. It might be a big herd with hundreds of animals on the road and another thousand in the surrounding forest so not much place to run either.
- vanattab 1y agoI don't understand how this was going to work? Was the plan to paint every year them all every year? I am not very familiar with reindeer but don't they shed the antlers every year like whitetail? So for most of the year they don't have antlers or they are growing them and they are covered with a soft velvet and only harden and scrap off the velvet layer on tress right before breading season. They fight and breed then shed thier antlers. You would have a very short window after they scrape thier velvet to paint and it would only be good for a 3-5 months at most. Granted at least for whitetail most of the accidents happen during the breeding season (like humans, male deer can be pretty reckless when it comes time to mate)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- rdtsc 1y ago> Anne Ollila, chairwoman of the Reindeer Herders Association These seem to be either domesticated or herded on certain territories by natives. So spray painting a herd may not be as hard as it sounds. From https://reindeerherding.org/world-reindeer-herders https://reindeerherding.org/world-reindeer-herders > The Association of World Reindeer Herders is a voluntary civil society organization for all the 24 different nomadic indigenous peoples who make a living from reindeer herding across 10 nation-states in the circumpolar north, formally founded during the 1st World Congress of Reindeer Herders in 1997.
- Kon-Peki 1y agoSure, give it a shot! Reindeer are the only deer where the male and female both grow antlers, so it could help. But… antlers fall off and regrow the next year, so you’d have to keep repainting… Also, when the males rut, they tend to scrape their antlers on trees, so that’s probably not good for keeping paint on the antlers. Bonus! Finnish drivers will likely be able to see reflective trees and avoid them!
- 85392_school 1y ago(2014)
- valbaca 1y agoDeers also shed their antlers yearly...so who's maintaining this?
- comrade1234 1y agoJust a random WI deer story. I have a few but here’s one. I was driving on a two-lane highway and saw a deer up ahead on the side of the road so I started slowing down. The deer saw me, panicked and ran into the brush/woods, then changed direction and ran out and back toward the highway. I kept slowing. It changed direction and ran back toward the woods, changed direction again and ran back toward the highway. By now I was at a full stop and parallel to the deer. It ran head first into the side of my truck, fell down, got up and sort of stumbled back into the woods…
- INTPenis 1y agoWas there a game fence preventing it from entering the woods maybe? Not sure how you do in WI but here in Sweden highways are always lined with game fences. The sad thing is when an animal somehow gets over it, under it, however, and is then trapped on the highway side.
- zdragnar 1y agoWe don't really have game fences like that here. The closest thing is sound barriers along freeways through suburban and urban areas which occasionally trap animals, but even then there's usually enough room along the side of the road a spooked animal won't feel the need to run back towards the road after fleeing it.
- 83 1y agoThere are two classes of highways in WI. Large, divided, 4+ lane highyways which always have game fences, and two lane 'county highways' which do not have fences. Parent is referring to the latter. The game fences that do exist aren't really tall enough for deer, maybe 2m tall at best so deer are constantly jumping them. I've always wondered why they aren't taller - I suspect they are more for escaped cows and horses than for deer.
- bell-cot 1y agoMy guess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease And based on the USGS map, it is very common in WI.
- bethekidyouwant 1y agoThey are painting antlers. No information on how they are going to do this every year. (since antlers are only around for eight months a year and I imagine you have to paint them once they’re fully grown so four months in?) What an absolutely useless article, how do you actually bag and tag every reindeer in the entire country, it makes absolutely no sense
- Moru 1y agoI guess they think the whole world knows about domestic animals in northern europe. This is not wild animals we are talking about, then it makes some sort of sense, right.
- Tuna-Fish 1y agoThere are no wild reindeer in Finnish Lapland. Every reindeer has an owner. The Sami, who practice large-scale reindeer herding, routinely round up every reindeer in the country every year. They also prevent predation by exterminating all predators that threaten their herds.
- alistairSH 1y agoEven with the herds being owned/domesticated, you still have the issue of antlers being shed regularly. And do female reindeer grow them (white tail doe do not, that's what we have here in DC metro)?
- fifilura 1y agoTitle should be changed to reindeer, not deer. As those are domesticated by the Sami people. Then it makes more sense and should not be a major task, since they are regularly caught to be ear-marked for example. In general a good idea IMO. For deer it would be trickier, but I imagine you could somehow do it by setting up feeding stations (pretty common with hunters) and spray them when they approach it. But it would be messy. Now my imagination is wandering, please stop me.
- joecool1029 1y agoIt's not possible at all to do this for white-tailed deer. The does and fawns don't grow antlers. My state, NJ, has a population of over 100,000 deer and average densities over 100 individuals per square mile (with some areas over double that).
- tantalor 1y agoYou could snare the does and put high-vis reflective vests on them.
- squigz 1y agoDo they need a hard hat too?
- HeyLaughingBoy 1y agoAt 100 animals/sq-mile if they could snare them, they'd probably just shoot them at that point.
- Bender 1y agoI fed about 110 deer during this last winter. I wanted to put something reflective on them and the senior game warden said no. There is very little I am permitted to do for them. I am not even permitted to protect them from predators. I can not put a sign next to the highway to watch for them, only the department of transportation can. I kept them off the highway all winter but mid spring they go their own way, mostly into the mountains but about 4 or 5 packs cross the highway. People think they are dumb but they just have incredibly poor depth perception and cars are much quieter these days. Noisy trucks and motorcycles will make them run back to me. EV's will need a sound system that makes them sound like a big-rig with jake-brakes and straight pipes. Let's make it happen.
- jmclnx 1y agoIt is a good idea, but how ? I believe deer loose their antlers every year. Painting thousands of deer every year seems impossible. Or are the referring to deer that are being herded ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer_herding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer_herding
- tokai 1y agoYes, they are livestock. The amount of wild reindeer in finland is a rounding error compared to herded reindeer.
- pelagic_sky 1y agoReminds me of efforts to reduce roadkill in Australia. "The virtual fence is the latest attempt to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. It uses a line of posts spaced along the roadside, each with a unit producing loud sounds and flashing lights aimed away from the road. Vehicle headlights activate the units, which are claimed to alert animals and reduce the risk of collision." https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2024/12/what-works-and-what-doesnt-to-cut-the-roadkill-toll/ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2024...
- anyonecancode 1y agoWe have that in a forested section near me in New Jersey. I think it might be this: https://deerdeter.com/ https://deerdeter.com/
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- yieldcrv 1y agoIs finland still doing this?
- Ndymium 1y agoNo, it was a test for a year and deemed a failure.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- FredPret 1y agoWe should genetically modify some males to glow in the dark, much like how we neuter mosquitoes by using a few modified males. /s
- melling 1y agoSounds like a job for AI and a HUD. We have deer in my area. I need something. I drive slowly but k owing when they’re around would be helpful.
- spcldvlpr 1y agoThere were experiment painting reindeer antlers here in Finland. But it failed, the paint wont last. So nothing to see here really. Yet another internet ”thing” circling around
- nntwozz 1y agoDid they try other alternatives, like reflective tape? Wrap it around like handlebar tape. Make it degradable or else the woods will fill up with junk. Let's brainstorm some more, design a special hunter-seeker robot powered by AI that captures deer in the wild and performs this menial task. Thank you, I'll show myself out.
- flanked-evergl 1y agoYou seem to have forgotten to take your comment out with you.
- Cthulhu_ 1y agoBio-engineer the animals so their antlers and/or fur becomes reflective itself, and / or glow in the dark.
- cardamomo 1y agoBio-engineer vehicles that instinctively avoid deer.
- fragmede 1y agoIf we're doing that level of bioengineering, the other direction would be to have the vehicles be able to eat any deer that cross its path for fuel. The circle of life doesn't work without predators at the top who eventually die themselves, returning their energy to the beginning of the cycle.
- Someone 1y agoPut a tiny radio on all of them that broadcasts a “deer here” signal, and require cars to have a receiver to detect them. Ideally, make it a RFID.
- ajb 1y agoA few years ago someone made a fluorescent GM rabbit. I guess if they give that gene to a deer after a few generations it would spread through the population and solve the issue. If we consider it safe and ethical to release GM animals into the wild...
- gadders 1y agoI was surprised how many dead deer I saw driving down the M11/A11 in Norfolk. I think I counted 10 dead muntjac.
- xvfLJfx9 1y agoLooks like the Regal Ancestor Spirit from Elden Ring, lol.
- blutack 1y agoIn the New Forest national park in the UK (where there are about 5000 free roaming ponies) they've been fitting them with reflective/hi-viz collars for years. Makes them much easier to see at night in winter. https://www.hlsnewforest.org.uk/2024/10/24/reflective-collars-fitted-on-new-forest-ponies-to-help-reduce-animal-accidents/ https://www.hlsnewforest.org.uk/2024/10/24/reflective-collar...
- _vere 1y agoI feel like this would fuck with me if i was a deer, imagine someone gets you, sprays stuff onto our antlers and suddenly they glow when light hits them, thats some animal body horror
- dominicrose 1y agoThey care about these animals but they are still animals, to dumb to avoid the road and they probably don't mind having such horns and it could save their life
- ribcage 1y ago[dead]
- internet_points 1y agos/is/tried
- DuckOnFire 1y agoLike imagine being a reindeer looking at your friend's glowing antlers at night!
- HPsquared 1y agoI can just imagine them going up to roads to admire each others' reflective antlers in the headlights.
- DontchaKnowit 1y agoThis article is horrible. Theres barely any info and a single picture. This passes as journalism?
- lo_fye 1y agoIt's cool, BUT if this was done in America, all of those deer would be dead by daylight thanks to hunters. "Hi Hunters! Look! I'm here! See my glowing rack?! Yes, Over here! Shoot me! Shooooot Meeeeeeee!"
- rcstank 1y agoNot necessarily. Many places require deer tags to be purchased. If you shoot a deer, you have to tag it. Many hunters also won’t kill just any deer. It’s often better to let the deer live for another season to let it mature.
- IAmBroom 1y agoYou are wildly incorrect. The largest deer population in the 50 US states is in Pennsylvania, home of the Appalachian forests. If I wanted to hunt deer, I could easily live off venison. Shooting them is only tricky during legal hunting season, when they quickly become very wary. There's 12-20 that live within a mile of me. My dogs and I regularly surprise them sleeping, and I live within 10 minutes of the heart of a large US city.
- bluSCALE4 1y agoWouldn't this have to be done every year? Or did the petting zoo I visited lie to me?
- mikedg2 1y ago[flagged]