In 2015, Google Street View accidentally blurred a cow’s face in Cambridge, England, after mistaking it for a human. The funny glitch went viral in 2016 when a The Guardian editor shared it, sparking jokes about the cow being in “witness protection.”🤣
We are used to faces and number plates being obscured by Google to protect privacy for images on Street View, but animals don’t often suffer the same fate – except for this Cambridge cow.
Although the cow can be seen in all its bovine glory in one image near the river Cam, Google appears to have blurred it for a tighter crop.
The search giant admitted its technology may have been a little overeager.
A spokesperson for Google told the BBC: “We thought you were pulling the udder one when we herd the moos, but it’s clear that our automatic face-blurring technology has been a little overzealous. Of course, we don’t begrudge this cow milking its five minutes of fame.”
Shariatmadari’s tweet has been retweeted more than 9,000 times – with plenty of cow jokes among the replies.
The cow picture has echoes of an image released in May by West Midlands police of three lambs being transported in a Ford Galaxy people carrier.
Photograph: West Midlands Police/PA
Officers spotted the unusual cargo in Yardley, Birmingham, and pursued the vehicle, which hit a parked car.
Three men abandoned the Ford and its cuddly cargo, but were arrested after a search of nearby gardens. One was found up a tree and another in a conservatory.
The three lambs were rehomed at a farm in Sheldon while officers attempted to trace their owners.