Two images of a reindeer with luminous antlers were recently shared on social media and have been viewed millions of times – but there’s a tragic truth behind the snaps

Pictures of reindeer with glowing antlers go viral - but the reason is sad

Pictures of a reindeer with glowing antlers have gone viral (file) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Images of a reindeer with glow-in-the-dark antlers have taken social media by storm.

The @AMAZINGNATURE account on X (formerly Twitter) recently shared two snaps of a reindeer sporting luminous antlers. The post has since gone viral, amassing millions of views.

The post revealed that in Finland, reindeer antlers were painted with reflective paint to make them visible to motorists at night, due to the high number of traffic accidents involving the animals. The X account labelled the images “vaguely terrifying”.

This initiative was first introduced by Finland’s Reindeer Herders Association back in 2014 in response to an estimated 4,000 reindeer being killed in traffic accidents annually.

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“The aim is to prevent traffic accidents. The spray is being tested on fur at the moment, but it may be even more effective on the antlers, because they are seen from every side,” the organisation said at the time.

Unfortunately, by 2016, the association reported that this method, along with other measures such as hanging reflectors around the reindeer’s necks, had not been successful in reducing reindeer fatalities.

“Drivers often mistook reindeer with reflectors for people in the dark, thinking they wouldn’t run into the middle of the road when they saw car headlights approaching,” the association explained. “And the deer would tear the reflectors off.”

A reindeer tracking app was rolled out in 2016, giving drivers the power to report their reindeer sightings and alerting people when they’re near a hotspot. It proved successful in curtailing the issue.

X users had a field day with the snaps of the reindeer sporting glow-in-the-dark antlers. One user quipped: “Now I just imagine 2 reindeer with horns locked like it’s a lightsaber duel.”

Another cracked a dark joke: “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to kill.” And a third chimed in with: “I’m here for the terrifying magical reindeer.”