{"id":320935,"date":"2025-12-01T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/320935\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T17:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:03:10","slug":"runaway-reindeer-in-formby-sparks-major-search-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/320935\/","title":{"rendered":"Runaway reindeer in Formby sparks major search operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HMHM Coastguard Crosby<\/p>\n

Buddy’s unscheduled spot of sightseeing caused quite a stir <\/p>\n

A reindeer called Buddy sparked a huge search operation after he went on the run from a Christmas celebration.<\/p>\n

Armed police officers, the Coastguard and members of the Royal Marines were called in to track him down after he fled Santa’s Enchanted Forest in Formby, Merseyside.<\/p>\n

But Buddy’s winter escape soon wore him out, and Santa’s exhausted key worker was found fast asleep in nearby sand dunes.<\/p>\n

A relieved Steve Howard, owner of Santa’s Enchanted Forest, said Buddy had just become over-excited and had decided to stretch his legs, adding, “I think he was just doing a trial run for Christmas Eve.”<\/p>\n

Merseyside Police said it began receiving reports the reindeer had gone missing at about 13:45 GMT on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Worried he might end up in a nearby river, the force called in teams from the coastguard to help find him.<\/p>\n

Buddy, from north Wales, was later discovered on Formby beach using thermal binoculars, while a lifeboat quad bike team stepped in to shepherd him into the dunes.<\/p>\n

Monitored by a police drone, an exhausted Buddy finally laid down to rest as a vet administered some sedatives in the early hours of Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"HMHM Coastguard Crosby<\/p>\n

The reindeer – seen here in night vision – was eventually tracked down at Formby beach <\/p>\n

The vet was supported by some Royal Marines, who were on exercise at a firing range close by.<\/p>\n

Buddy was then placed in a trailer and returned to his stable.<\/p>\n

Steve said Buddy is a young reindeer “full of beans” and loves children, and enjoys them hand feeding them moss.<\/p>\n

“We have had the reindeers each year for about seven years now and on this occasion Buddy got excited and jump the enclosure.<\/p>\n

“I am grateful for the services helping to get him, and want to say thanks.”<\/p>\n

Southport Lifeboat added: “Christmas is saved thanks to some great work from multiple agencies.”<\/p>\n

Facebook group Formby Bubble shared a message from Buddy’s owners, posting: “We’re happy to report that Buddy is now safe, warm and snuggled up back home in north Wales.<\/p>\n

“After his unexpected seaside adventure, he is enjoying some well-earned rest in his cosy stable and will be taking it easy for the rest of the year.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HM Coastguard Crosby Buddy’s unscheduled spot of sightseeing caused quite a stir A reindeer called Buddy sparked a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-320935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}