Dorset Christmas Event Under Fire for Cruel Plans to Feature Live Reindeer
For Immediate Release:
1 December 2015
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]
DORSET CHRISTMAS EVENT UNDER FIRE FOR CRUEL PLANS TO FEATURE LIVE REINDEER
PETA Calls On Stewarts Garden Centres to Keep Live Animals out of Holiday Festivities
Dorset – This morning, PETA campaign coordinator Kirsty Henderson sent a letter to the managing director of Stewarts Garden Centres encouraging him to cancel plans to use live reindeer in scheduled Santa’s Winter Wonderland events.
In the letter, PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – notes that a busy commercial centre filled with noisy shoppers, bright lights and excited children is an entirely unsuitable environment for reindeer. Contact with people is something they normally avoid, and they’ll be unnecessarily subjected to the stress of travel. Using animals as backdrops in public displays is not only cruel but also dangerous, as humans are at risk of injury should the animals run amok.
“Using live animals in these sorts of events sends a damaging message to young people that animals are little more than living props”, Henderson says. “There are many other ways that the people of Dorset could celebrate the holidays that would be far more in keeping with the Christmas spirit than by treating scared animals like decorations.”
Henderson’s letter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
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