The owner of a grieving reindeer has launched a bid to ship a new female mate 300 miles to his paddock - so he isn't 'Lonely this Christmas'.
Heartbroken Sven sadly lost his stable-mate Claus three weeks ago to a short illness, leaving the herd animal on his own at Little Haven Farm in Hull, East Yorks.
The death sparked fears from the animal sanctuary's owner, Suzie Wright, 40, that he might "die from loneliness" if he wasn’t paired up with another caribou quickly.
She went online and found that a female reindeer was available in Dorset, but now needs to raise £4,000 so the doe can be brought to her "lovely boy”, Sven.
Suzie pleaded: “The sooner the better. It would be great for Christmas. If I could get her in next week, I would have her in then.”
Suzie bought Sven and Claus in October 2020, and the pair helped local school kids feel the festive spirit during the pandemic.
Over the next three years, the two males lived together happily almost all year round.
But Suzie says Sven, who acts 'like a dog' on her 15-acre estate, now urgently needs to be close to his own kind or his life could be in danger in the months ahead.
Suzie said: “He’s a herd animal, and they become very, very lonely - and can die from loneliness. So if we’re looking at it in a really drastic way, you could be saving his life.
“They need to be with others as they can’t survive on their own for long periods. They might see people, but it’s not the same as mixing with their own kind.
"But we don’t get any outside funding from anywhere else. There isn’t the money there - the money we get in just covers the basic overheads, like the feed.
“He’s super friendly. He’s just a lovely boy. I can give him a hug if I want to. I often say to him, ‘Come here and give me a kiss’.”
Suzie said she was left shocked when four-year-old Claus passed away on September 11 this year after succumbing to an illness in under 24 hours.
He and Sven, also four, had just been split up for the annual rutting season, where male deer try to assert dominance by locking antlers, when the tragedy occured.
But despite her sorrow, Suzie knew she needed to act fast to find a new long-term match that would be right for Sven.
She said: “We looked online for reindeer breeders and what was available. You just kind of match them up.
“And we decided to go for a female because at least that way they wouldn’t have to be separated during rutting season.
“They need to be a similar age group. I don’t want there to be too much of an age difference.
"The new female is three and he’s four, so there’s a nice age gap, but not too big.”
Suzie, who is also a primary school teacher, said Sven had grown close to her while living on her farm - which now has over 40 animals.
She acquired the property in July 2020 and said it had become a bit like a ‘Noah’s Arc’ as more and more livestock - from goats to guinea pigs - joined her.
But Sven soon became a firm favourite, and Suzie said people were often stunned to see him following her around ‘like a dog’.
She said: “He’s halter trained, so I can put him on a lead and walk him round. He’s gentle and he likes to interact with people.
“With me and my family, he’s very friendly. He follows us around during the day when the farm is closed – like a dog would follow you around.”
Suzie said she wanted to get a female deer so that the pair didn’t need to be separated during the rutting season.
And while she had no plans for Sven and his new mate to have baby reindeer, she said it could happen in the future if they were a good match.
She added: “It’s possible, potentially, because he’s not castrated but one step at a time.
“We’ll see what happens, and nature is a wonderful thing. We haven’t gone for a female for that reason but it may be a by-product later on, we’ll have to see.”
