No more reindeer in town's Christmas parade
Middlesbrough CouncilReindeer will no longer feature in a town's Christmas parade, a local authority has said.
The move has been taken by Middlesbrough Council after consulting with "various animal welfare groups".
The animals did feature in the town's recent festive parade, with the council saying at the time that a "safe environment" would be provided.
North East Animal Rights (NEAR), which had campaigned against the use of live reindeer, said it was "delighted" reindeer would no longer be included.
Founder Anna Malia said the "right thing" had been done by stopping the use of reindeer in future events.
The group had raised concerns in the run up to the 2025 event, saying that the animals "should not be bred nor should they be used as a money-making opportunity".
"Middlesbrough's recent festive events had so much to offer the local community without the inclusion of reindeer," Malia said.
"So we are delighted to hear that, following many concerns raised by members of the public, expert animal groups and NEAR, that they have taken the decision to stop using them."
Middlesbrough deputy mayor and executive member for culture Philippa Storey, Labour, confirmed the change in a report, which will go before the full council on 14 January.
"We are always looking to review and improve the events we run in Middlesbrough and hope the coming year will be a big one in terms of attracting even more events to the town," she said.
The report said that "at its peak" 8,000 people attended Middlesbrough's Christmas parade and light switch-on, and described the event as "successful".
These figures were down on the expectation of "more than 10,000 people" previously set out by the council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
