A SOMERSET MP has called for change in the law after a farmer faces paying thousands or culling her reindeers, who have been categorised as “wild and dangerous”.
Sarah Sutton 51, who runs Somerset Reindeer Ranch near Yeovil, has said Christmas is “ruined” after being told she needs a zoo license to continue the business – as reindeer are now classified as “dangerous and wild” by DEFRA.
She has said changing the licence would mean turning the ranch into “a fortress” where she could keep wild cats.
READ MORE: Somerset farmer may cull reindeer after council decision
Her MP, Sarah Dyke, has since called for a “common sense” change in the law, because the animals are “not the same as tigers and lions”.
Ms Dyke introduced the Reindeer (Licensing for Exhibition) Bill in the Commons last week, which will be listed for consideration on a future date.
“At the moment, domesticated reindeer are not wild animals, and they shouldn’t be classified as such,” the Liberal Democrat MP told the Press Association.
“So, the Bill is to urge the Government to adjust the Zoo Licensing Act to exempt domesticated reindeer from the zoo licensing requirements.”
Keepers must have a zoo licence if they display wild animals to the public for at least seven days a year.
But reindeer are widely domesticated, having lived alongside humans for centuries, according to The British Deer Society.
Ms Dyke said the species appeared to be an “anomaly” in the list of hazardous zoo animals, so to put Somerset Reindeer Ranch “in the same bracket as a commercial zoo is nonsensical”.
She continued: “The law should be fair, it should classify reindeer as domesticated animals to ensure councils can allow reindeer farms to continue to operate as they have been doing safely now for many, many years.”
The Glastonbury and Somerton MP, who keeps sheep, said animal welfare must be “first and foremost, front and centre” in Government decision-making.
She added: “But what we shouldn’t be doing is destroying small rural businesses with essentially significant cost implications.”
Ms Sutton already had an animal exhibition licence for her business, which opened in 2012.
She takes her reindeer – called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Blitzen, Camilla (after the Queen), Harry (who was born when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex married), Arthur, Aurora and 17-year-old Snowflake – to off-site sessions, such as festive events and animal days at care homes, and hosts open days on her farm.
But Somerset Council this year found Ms Sutton should apply for a zoo licence, unless she reduces public opening to six days or fewer.
The permit costs £2,747 and would be valid for four years.
“The licence fee is not the problem, but the infrastructure required to set it up is,” Ms Sutton told PA.
This could include having access to firearms, ammunition and darting equipment to use against escaped animals, which, with training, could cost Somerset Reindeer Ranch “thousands of pounds".
Specialist gates and “human-proof” fences might also be “extortionately expensive”, the owner said.
“So, you’re essentially turning this place into a fortress where I’d be able to keep lions,” she added.
Ms Sutton said she wanted to share her love of animals with other people.
“The business really is supported by (my husband) David working and me running the farm,” she said.
“It’s not a hugely profitable business; it’s more a lifestyle choice.”
A Somerset Council spokesperson said it was up to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to classify reindeer as wild animals, not the authority.
They said the Government deemed reindeer “not normally domesticated in Great Britain”.
The authority “received correspondence”, which it handled as a complaint, about Somerset Reindeer Ranch hosting public events on more than six days each year.
“Under current legislation, because of the classification of some animals on site, this meant the Ranch will need a zoo licence,” the council spokesperson added.
“Historically, officers assumed that the majority of activities provided by Somerset Reindeer Ranch were off-site (for example, festive events such as Christmas markets) and had conducted licensing inspections on this basis.
“Officers were not aware that on-site activities were now exceeding the permitted six days per year.
“We accept that this issue was not pressed during inspections and recognise that the complexity of licensing requirements can lead to misinterpretation.”
The council will not take formal enforcement action while Somerset Reindeer Ranch works towards a zoo licence.
“We do not believe that Somerset Reindeer Ranch intentionally contravened licensing regulations and for this reason we are sympathetic to the situation and committed to supporting the business through the next step,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Dyke’s Bill is unlikely to become law without Government backing.
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