Stauffers of Kissel Hill Ends Reindeer Exhibits After PETA Appeal

Grocery and Garden Centers Won’t Use the Live Animals in Holiday Display

For Immediate Release:
November 14, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After PETA pointed out that live-reindeer displays are demonstrably cruel to these high-strung animals and can be dangerous to the public, Stauffers of Kissel Hill—which exhibited reindeer at several of its locations across Pennsylvania last year—has decided not to bring the animals back this year and confirmed that it has no plans to do so again in the future.

“PETA applauds Stauffers’ humane decision, as there’s nothing merry about using sensitive animals as holiday ornaments,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is calling on any other stores tempted to exhibit reindeer or have Nativity displays featuring live animals to follow Stauffers’ compassionate lead.”

In its correspondence with Stauffers, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—pointed out that captive exotic animals, who naturally shun human contact, live in a perpetual state of confinement, discomfort, and stress. They’re denied the opportunity to establish a territory, exercise autonomy, seek freedom, choose mates, raise young, and engage in other natural and vital types of behavior. They’re also trucked from one event to the next and subjected to a constant barrage of strange noises, human activity, and people trying to touch them.

Reindeer can also transmit numerous diseases to humans, including salmonellosis, sarcoptic mange, ringworm, and even rabies. Just last year, a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report detailed serious injuries—requiring surgery—that a woman sustained when a bull reindeer pushed her up against a fence and punctured her with his antlers.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.