A LAKE District garden centre which put real reindeer on display to pull in customers over Christmas has defended its actions in the light of criticism.

Visiting teacher Sheila Marshall said she was upset to see the animals penned up at Hayes Garden World, Ambleside, describing it as “a horrifying act of commercialisation”.

But store manager Leanne Coulson said the supervised display allowed children and families to enjoy the Arctic animals.

“Obviously, they are not in the same conditions as they would be in the wild but they were not distressed by their time here,” said Ms Coulson.

“The reindeer were kept in a large pen with lots of straw bedding. We didn’t receive a single complaint.”

“Staff here love animals and we wouldn’t bring in anything that wasn’t being cared for correctly.”

However, Ms Marshall, a visitor from Blackburn who has previously worked with reindeer herders in Mongolia as part of a Voluntary Service Organisation project, said she left the store when she saw the animals in their pen.

“Clearly it wasn’t the environment for them and I was surprised how much it upset me,” she said. “The reindeer were caged in behind large metal fencing panels – I am used to seeing them around the tepees of herders in the mountains.”

The reindeer on display at Hayes were transported to the centre by Lincolnshire-based firm Reindeer 4Christmas. The pair had been transported for each of the three weekends before Christmas and kept in a ten-foot square pen.

Martin Lacey, managing director of Reindeer4Christmas, said his 22 reindeer came from a European supplier that would have sent them to the slaughterhouse if he had not bought them as part of his UK business venture.

He said: “These are domesticated animals and showing them is just the same as showing sheep at an agricultural fair. People who complain are trying to destroy Christmas.”

RSPCA spokeswoman Katya Mira said: “If the animals are cared for as they should be and their needs are met it’s not illegal, but clearly a great deal of care is needed to make sure animals are kept in a suitable environment and aren’t caused stress.”