It's should be clear to everyone that live reindeer just don't belong in a California mall. That's why I was shocked to see that Grossmont Center, a giant shopping center in San Diego's East County, advertise "live reindeer" experiences as part of their holiday celebrations.
Please sign my urgent petition calling on Grossmont Center to stop exploiting animals in their Christmas activities and cancel their upcoming December 17 "live reindeer" event!
Reindeer are social animals that typically live in huge roaming herds in the icy Arctic. At shopping center events like Grossmont Center, they are often confined to tiny holding areas — surrounded by people and noise for hours on end. This is animal cruelty, plain and simple.
According to the Captive Animal Protection Society (CAPS), a reindeer's welfare can be severely compromised when forced to entertain at shopping center events like this — many reindeer used for Christmas events have even died from "poor management" and lack of proper care.
And children seeing reindeer and other animals used as "living props." for Christmas photos can spread a damaging message that animals can be used and abused for their entertainment.
Grossmont Center is one of the biggest shopping centers in San Diego County — and one of the last holdouts in California still advertising these types of inhumane and cruel live reindeer experiences. Earlier this month, over 90,000 people signed a Care2 petition that convinced Westfield Malls to cancel ALL their captive reindeer events nationwide. We can do it again with Grossmont!
Please sign my petition calling on San Diego's Grossmont Center and their management company to cancel their upcoming live reindeer event and pledge not to host captive animal events in the future.
