India’s glow-in-the-dark cows

Police in central India are sticking glow-in-the-dark strips on the horns of stray cattle to prevent motorists from crashing into the animals as they wander across roads at night.

After a spate of road accidents, traffic police in one district of Madhya Pradesh state stuck orange reflective bands on the horns of 300 cows and bulls to help drivers spot them.

Stray cattle are a major traffic menace in India, with hundreds of bovines roaming freely on roads across the country.

Kailash Chauhan, traffic police inspector for Balaghat district, said: “Many drivers injured themselves or killed the cattle after running over them at night. There was an urgent need to prevent such accidents.”

Because of the success of the scheme, officers said they now plan to purchase permanent reflective paint to cover cows’ horns, because the plastic bands only last for a few weeks.

In 2015, more than 550 people were killed in India in accidents involving stray animals, according to road ministry figures.  Agence France-Presse