Hamleys Toy Stores - please commit to no further live animal use in any of your stores.

Dear Mr Reynisson

Hamleys Toy Stores was criticised back in December 2007 by the public, the Born Free Foundation and OneKind animal protection charities for planning to have live penguins and reindeers in their London store. After receiving many complaints Hamleys made the right decision to cancel the live animal show.

Recently in April 2015 the Glasgow Hamleys store had a live animal show featuring rabbits, birds and tortoises which again came under fire from concerned members of the public and the last day of the event was cancelled.

Hamleys should not be subjecting live animals to the noisy and unnatural environment of a toy store which must be very frightening and distressing for the animals. Animals are not toys and this gives out a bad message to children that animals are ours for entertainment. Having live animals in store could also encourage impulse buying of animals which is highly irresponsible - many animals are languishing in animal shelters after they are no longer wanted once children have became bored with them.

We therefore call on Hamleys Toy Stores to make a commitment to no further live animal use in any of their stores at any time in the future.

We look forward to your response on this matter.

Yours faithfully

The petition signees

Hamleys Toy Stores was criticised back in December 2007 by the public, the Born Free Foundation and OneKind animal protection charities for planning to have live penguins and reindeers in their London store. After receiving many complaints Hamleys made the right decision to cancel the live animal show.

Recently in April 2015 the Glasgow Hamleys store had a live animal show featuring rabbits, birds and tortoises which again came under fire from concerned members of the public and the last day of the event was cancelled.

Hamleys should not be subjecting live animals to the noisy and unnatural environment of a toy store which must be very frightening and distressing for the animals. Animals are not toys and this gives out a bad message to children that animals are ours for entertainment. Having live animals in store could also encourage impulse buying of animals which is highly irresponsible - many animals are languishing in animal shelters after they are no longer wanted once children have became bored with them.

We therefore call on Hamleys Toy Stores to make a commitment to no further live animal use in any of their stores at any time in the future.

Update #38 years ago
I received an email 06/07/15 from Mark Drummond, Head of Marketing and Web who also suggested a call to discuss this. I replied to him 07/07/15 explaining again that I would prefer email discussions but received no response to that email or one I sent 15/07/15. I tried emailing Hamleys customer service 01/08/15 but no-one responded. I'm sorry I do not have better news for everyone that took the time to sign and share this petition. Thanks again for signing.
Update #28 years ago
I received an email from Ms De-Oliveira Mr Reynisson's Assistant 25/06 stating that Hamleys took concerns regarding animals in Hamleys stores seriously & that we could arrange a call to discuss it. I replied stating that I was happy to speak on phone but was keen to have call contents documented by email also. I received an email back from Ms De-Oliveira 26/06/15 stating she would get back to me to arrange this but haven't had a response to my later emails 03/07/15 and 23/07/15.
Update #18 years ago
*Petition update*
Thank you so much for everyone who signed this petition and took the amount of signatures to well over 1000! The petition has now been delivered to Mr Raynisson so I will keep everyone updated on the outcome as soon as Hamleys get back to me.
Thank you all!
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