Charities unite to call for end of reindeer exploitation this festive season

In total, 21 animal protection groups have signed an open letter to hundreds of event organisers calling on them to cease using live reindeer in the run-up to Christmas this year, and at any future festive events. 

In response to our campaign last year, 44 events informed us that they had made the responsible decision to switch to celebrations that did not involve live animals in 2023. Since 2018, at least 153 events have transitioned to animal-free Christmas celebrations.

Recent research indicates that the unnatural environments reindeer experience at venues and the animals’ lack of ability to make free choices or have control over aspects of their lives at these events, are likely to lead to psychological distress and a state of poor welfare. Additionally, weight loss and muscle atrophy are commonly reported health problems in captive reindeer.

A new report has documented legal loopholes which allow the use of reindeer in travelling festive performances across England. These activities would be illegal if associated with a travelling circus under the Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019, but are allowed to continue under current legislation governing the use of animals in mobile exhibits under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.

Released in November 2021, Born Free’s report, Exhibition or Exploitation, revealed that almost 600 reindeer were registered across Britain for use at mobile exhibitions.

Born Free’s Captivity Research & Policy Manager, Chris Lewis said, “The thought of reindeer at Christmas time should evoke magical and joyous emotions at one of the happiest times of the year. Yet the use of reindeer at festive events is a time of misery for the animals involved, with serious, negative impacts on their health and welfare. We, at Born Free, urge everyone to pledge to never attend festive events with live reindeer and for venues and organisers to commit to staging events which are wild animal-free.”

Is there an event near you? You can take action!

Use the special map below, created by our partners Freedom for Animals, to see if there is an event near you advertising the use of reindeer this year.

In red are some of the events we know of that are planning to use live animals. Whenever an organiser changes their plans and decides not to use reindeer, we’ll turn that red marker green, so you can see events that have made the compassionate choice.