It’s a common joke — with a kernel of truth, maybe — that all little girls want ponies. Even if not every girl wants one, enough of them probably do; unfortunately, fulfilling their dreams isn’t exactly easy when accidents end up taking the tiny horses out of this world. Measures have been taken to prevent that in Dartmoor, thankfully — though the means aren’t what anyone would call conventional.
Ponies have made their way through the moors of southwest England for a while now, which has led to no shortage of unintended deaths on the road — more than sixty this year, and an increase from years past. The assumed problem is that the ponies aren’t visible enough to drivers; the solution, then, was to give the ponies a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint. A strip of the stuff on their bodies lights up when headlights pass over them, which has already proven to be a saving grace.
The ponies won’t be the only ones getting a paint job, though. Thanks to the successes so far, sheep and cattle will also have their bodies painted — though the problem then becomes how to make sure that paint stays on when the hair comes off. Still, any effort that helps animals stay alive is better than nothing.
