People think that keeping reindeer in England is not right. They ought to look at Zoo’s where they keep birds, reptiles, or wild lions etc in cages. Why should there be one rule for one and not for the other? At Blithbury Reindeer Lodge we look after our reindeer as best as we can whereby whatever the reindeer want they get, second to none.

Reindeer do adapt to English climate contrary to what people believe and do not live only on lichen (moss) and fly at night. I spend a lot of time working in Scandinavia on the round-ups, the culls, etc., and the general husbandry of reindeer. I have now been handling reindeer for 15 years, before that I commercially farmed (mainly cattle) so the husbandry side of reindeer came second to none to me – I gained the finer details of the species while in Scandinavia. I travel their approximately 6 times a year and will be again spending January/February 2011 in the Arctic Circle as working with an animal is the best way to learn. The knowledge that I have gathered over the years I pass onto my customers who purchase reindeer from us. All our customers receive an in-depth discussion and information packs informing them on handling, diet and husbandry of their reindeer.

There was a consensus a few years ago when Alpacas were brought into the UK from Argentina. They said Alpacas brains would explode if they lived 3,000 metres below sea level. As well as you know there are now Alpacas all over the country so that was a myth but people tend to sort of pick up on little items and become general experts on the subject and do not really understand it at all. People who have criticised us over the past I have invited to visit the Lodge and have a look round as yet nobody has ever taken me up on this. We take reindeer very seriously here at the Lodge and we have some cracking reindeer and welfare.

When in Scandinavia I also work with the vets and get receive some valuable veterinary advice. Those vets and I carry out various trials and exchange our results. We are not just a commercial business we are also very careful on the husbandry and welfare of the species. There are some people that have brought reindeer into the country from Scandinavia and are a bit mercenary by delivering the reindeer, taking the money and not being seen again. We do not operate like that at all. We operate a 24/7 service whereby if anybody has got a problem they can telephone me and we will sort it out. I probably talk to one or two vets a fortnight to give advice on the livestock. Reindeer are not rocket science as people are led to believe, all they need is just careful management like any other livestock i.e. polar bears, parrots, etc. they just have their own special requirements. You don’t feed turkey pellets to racehorses do you.