11th November 2020

Live animals will only be allowed at Knowsley Council events in limited circumstances after the involvement of Freedom for Animals and a councillor’s 10-month campaign succeeded.

At a meeting in early September, Knowsley Council unanimously approved a motion from Green Councillor, Jo Burke, prohibiting the use of live animals, unless for educational purposes or if it was consistent with their natural habitat. 

Councillor Jo Burke said that the use of reindeer at Christmas events caused them ‘huge stress’, through noise and the experience of being transported for miles from one end of the country to another. She said:

We as a country need to look after these majestic animals. It’s one thing to find them in a story book and quite another to find these sensitive animals used as props for our entertainment.

Councillor Burke added that even when reindeer were supplied by companies with all the relevant permits, as the ones used by the council previously had been, she said that they still experienced stress.