Animal rights groups target Santa’s grotto

Reindeer visits kept secret to protect herd.

It just used to be Rudolph who was picked on and called names. But now an entire herd of reindeer is being targeted by animal rights protesters trying to spoil a Christmas tradition loved by thousands.

Staff at the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, home to the UK’s only free-roaming reindeer, have been forced to keep secret the locations they are currently visiting in their annual Christmas tour for fear of being besieged by activists.

Each festive season, the much-loved domesticated animals are taken off the Cairngorms and carefully transported to shopping malls and garden centres around the UK to help Santa pull his sleigh full of presents and entertain young families. The herd, which has been touring every Christmas since 1990, has been forced to withhold the list of towns it is visiting and put a warning on its Facebook site asking people not to mention the locations.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has contacted many of the venues hosting the reindeer, asking them to cancel the events and stressing that the animals’ and the public’s safety is at risk.

Tilly Smith, who is in charge of the herd, said: “Last year we received some hassle from an organisation called Captive Animal Protection Society and this year it’s been PETA. We feel it would open a can of worms if we publicised where we are going.

“We’re erring on the side of caution by asking people not to mention details. We believe the protesters are aiming to stop venues from hiring us. These places might decide they can’t be bothered by the hassle and will stop inviting us. It’s putting pressure on them.

“Without the money we make from this time of year, we would struggle to care for the reindeer and pay our staff. We feel worn out by it all, to be honest. The reindeer bring a huge amount of joy, but there’s a blackness in the background just now because of it.”

Tilly says the Christmas reindeer are transported in a lorry containing specially-made, spacious boxes full of straw and they are not tied up. They stay in temporary bases throughout the UK usually rural farmland while on tour and are away from home for 10-14 days.

She believes the protest groups are failing to differentiate between the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, which has been operating for 62 years in 10,000 acres of natural habitat, and the influx of reindeer from Scandinavia to often poor conditions elsewhere in Britain.

“More than 1000 have been imported since 2005 into captive environments, which they don’t do well in. Lots succumb and die,” she continued. “But the letter PETA is sending out about us is almost defamatory. It’s full of misinformation. They won’t speak to us directly or come to see us, so how can they possibly comment?”

PETA spokesman Ben Williamson said: “The practice of taking reindeer all over the country, jamming them in pens, forcing them to pull sleighs and treating them as if they were Christmas decorations, is unacceptable.

“We should not be supporting such unethical displays. Children should not grow up thinking animals exist merely for our ‘entertainment’.

“These displays are a danger to public safety as well. Reindeer are large, strong animals that tend to be skittish and unpredictable, and they don’t enjoy being harnessed and petted either. It’s not unthinkable that one might decide to make a break for it.”

The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd was established in 1952 by Swedish reindeer herder Mikel Utsi. Utsi started with a few reindeer brought from his homeland. There are now around 150 reindeer living in the Cairngorm Mountains, believed to be the last suitable place left in the UK for the animals to live a natural life, thanks to the temperature and mountain grazing.

Every reindeer is trained to walk with a head collar on from six months old and each goes out on a Christmas parade as part of its training. Utsi first brought the reindeer down to Aviemore at Christmas 1953 and the public has been enthralled ever since.