Are our 'magical moments' worth their suffering? Welfare concerns for reindeer

A captive reindeer sitting on grass.

OneKind commissioned a review of all the scientific papers that have been published on reindeer welfare. The author, Dr Tayla Hammond, used the widely accepted Five Domains model to assess reindeer welfare in captive environments in the UK, and at entertainment events, such as Christmas parades and Santa’s grottos.

The full review describes all of the possible impacts on reindeer welfare, both positive and negative in each of the five domains, of being captive and being used in events. In this document, we summarise some of the key concerns raised by the review.

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