Manager of Britain’s only free-range reindeer herd says animals not suited to life in captivity and in many cases they do not live to see another winter
By Anita Singh
6:00AM GMT 10 Dec 2014
Once upon a time, seeing Santa’s reindeer involved a trip to Lapland. Now they are present at Christmas events across Britain, but experts have warned that the animals are paying a heavy price.
Reindeer are not suited to life in captivity and in many cases they do not live to see another winter, according to the manager of Britain’s only free-range reindeer herd.
The climate, diet and living conditions are so different to their natural habitat that many reindeer waste away or develop stress-related illnesses.
Tilly Smith, who runs the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre in Inverness-shire, called on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to halt reindeer imports.
“They are not coming from reindeer farms in Scandinavia, they are coming from areas of the wild, and Britain is not their natural habitat,” said Mrs Smith.
“Because they have fattened up and lived well in the summer before coming to Britain in November-time, they tend to survive through the winter. But when it comes to spring again they get thinner and thinner, and they can die.
“It is too warm here in summertime. Living on grass is a real no-no. They are used to living in a herd, eating different things at different times of year. And they need to move around - they can’t just stand sedentary in a pen all the time.”
She added: “Defra does not have a handle on where these reindeer go. Once they arrive into this country, they just vanish into the ether.
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