Pledge for Animal-free Festive Events

Festive events can be hugely stressful for animals, such as reindeer, and this can have a severe impact on their health and welfare. They are often displayed in a pen for lengthy periods or led along busy streets as part of a Christmas parade. These sensitive animals have nowhere to hide from the noise, lights and crowds of people demanding interaction. Animals can also be subjected to the additional stress of being transported up and down the country to be exhibited. 

Animal Aid appreciate that most event organisers successfully organise fun and educational festive celebrations which do not use live animals and it is only a small handful who do resort to using animals. However, we are asking everyone to recognise that animals can suffer when used in festive events by signing our pledge. By signing the pledge event organisers agree they will not use captive animals at future events and that this will be reflected in their organisation’s policy.  

We encourage all event organisers who have signed our pledge to display their certificate on their website or social media pages, when advertising festive events.