Born Free renews call for reindeer-free festive events
A record 35 organisations and experts have joined this year’s campaign by Born Free, Animal Aid, Freedom for Animals and OneKind in calling for festive events to not use live reindeer in 2025.
Reindeer at a festive event in Ayrshire in 2024
The joint letter has already been sent out to dozens of event organisers, highlighting the compromised welfare reindeer experience when displayed in town centres, shopping malls and Christmas markets, and urging event organisers to show compassion and kindness this festive season.
In 2023, we wrote to event organisers and councils to bring their attention to a report that highlighted the negative welfare impacts of events on reindeer, and recommended that their use in entertainment events be ceased.
Last year, footage obtained from multiple reindeer displays was sent to the author of that report, Dr Tayla Hammond, who identified that 75% of the reindeer in those displays displayed stress indicators, such as trembling or avoidance. The evidence is clear – reindeer suffer when used for events.
Are reindeer being used at an event near you?
Poor body weight, weight loss, muscle atrophy and general malaise are commonly reported problems in captive reindeer. Veterinarians have consistently voiced concerns that reindeer are hard to keep in captivity, and that problems are often seen in reindeer kept in private ownership for use in entertainment.
Research now provides overwhelming evidence that the pressures of regular long-distance travel, exposure to unnatural environments, physical labour such as pulling sleighs, and the lack of agency inherent in constant unfamiliar and unpredictable interactions with the public, result in reindeer used in festive entertainment being at severe risk of physical and mental stress, fatigue and associated illnesses.
Many event organisers are leading the way by making the compassionate choice to not feature reindeer at their events anymore.
Last year, 218 events that had displayed live animals in previous years hosted fun, family-friendly, and compassionate animal-free events instead. Of the events which received our joint letter in 2023, 35% chose to go reindeer-free in 2024. Early results from 2025 are already promising, with two major events that had been displaying live reindeer for years choosing compassionate alternatives!
We urge all event organisers, venues and councils to join them this year, and cease using live reindeer in their festive entertainment offerings.
Is there an event near you? You can take action!
The map below, created by our partners, Freedom for Animals, shows if there is an event near you advertising the use of live reindeer this year.
The events we know of that are planning to use live animals are marked in red. Click the red marker to uncover the organisers’ contact details so you can contact them and politely ask that they go animal-free. 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.
If you notice an event near you that’s planning to use reindeer and it’s not already on our map, please report it via our Raise the Red Flag online form.