National Trust Festive Events

This Christmas season, many National Trust locations have promoted ethical and creative alternatives to the displaying of live reindeers. At Morden Hall Park, families took part in a reindeer hunt trail which included hand-crafted wooden reindeer. Tyntesfield and Pentire also chose to use imaginative wooden reindeer nature trails, which gave children the chance to run and explore, proving that for an event to have festive magic, it does not need to include live animals as props.

Despite these positive actions by many sites, the National Trust has not adopted a nationwide policy against the use of live animals in festive displays, and at Dunster Castle, live reindeers were transported in to be displayed. We reached out to the organisers, providing ample information about the detrimental effect these events have on reindeers, and they responded by saying they “have no intention of causing any distress to any animals” and that they will “take this into consideration for our planning for future events”. After stating that they did not want to cause distress to the animals, they chose to go ahead with the event anyway.

We have reached out to the National Trust headquarters to ask them personally to adopt a reindeer-free policy, but sadly they responded defending their decision to use live animals stating that they use "an ethical company who have an animal welfare licence, all the necessary vet welfare documentation and transportation certificates, and whose reindeer are protected under the Animal Welfare and Livestock Register".

This simply isn’t good enough. Reindeer continue to endure suffering in travelling animal exhibitions. In 2025, such practices should be long behind us, and the National Trust risks being remembered on the wrong side of history by continuing to support them. But you can help!

Get Involved!

Contact the National Trust here, asking them to make it a national policy not to include live reindeers in festive events. They must commit to a future that prioritises ethical and compassionate festivities.

At Freedom for Animals we have been campaigning against the use of reindeers in festive events for a number of years and have had many successes in changing the minds of organisers by sharing the reasons why these events are cruel and unethical. Across the country many events have now gone animal-free. 

It is time for change. The National Trust must commit to a national policy that excludes the use of live reindeers as props in festive events. True respect for nature means respecting animals, not exploiting them for entertainment.