{"id":324382,"date":"2025-12-03T06:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324382\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:23:13","slug":"runaway-reindeer-who-fled-formby-attraction-has-security-beefed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324382\/","title":{"rendered":"Runaway reindeer who fled Formby attraction has security beefed up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764634456_186_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/60b047c0-cf89-11f0-8d79-4975c2144860.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Steve Howard A reindeer lying down in its enclosure.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Steve Howard<\/p>\n<p>Buddy is back in his enclosure after his travels<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A reindeer which sparked a huge search operation after escaping from a Christmas attraction has had security measures beefed up at his stable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Six-year-old Buddy fled Santa&#8217;s Enchanted Forest in Formby, Merseyside, at the weekend, prompting armed police officers, the coastguard and members of the Royal Marines being called in to track him down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">After several hours on the run, the exhausted animal from north Wales was discovered on a nearby beach, where he had fallen asleep among the sand dunes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Site owner Steve Howard said he was &#8220;hugely relieved&#8221; to get Buddy back, adding that he has increased the height of the reindeer&#8217;s enclosure by &#8220;two or three feet&#8221; to prevent a repeat.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Merseyside Police received reports that Buddy had gone missing at about 13:45 GMT on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Concerned he might end up in a nearby river, the force called in coastguard teams to help find him.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764634456_186_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/b9b58120-cf87-11f0-a9aa-e53fc1d16c14.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Steve Howard A man is pictured putting up some wooden fencing and plastic mesh in a forest setting\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Steve Howard<\/p>\n<p>Up goes the new fencing in Buddy&#8217;s enclosure<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Buddy was eventually discovered by using thermal binoculars before being sedated by a vet, assisted by some Royal Marines who were on exercise at a firing range close by. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The animal was then placed in a trailer and returned to his stable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr Howard, 45, said reindeers were &#8220;typically curious creatures&#8221;, adding that Buddy had been &#8220;having a run around his enclosure&#8221; prior to getting over-excited and jumping the fence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Reindeers could clear a 16ft (4.9m) fence if they really wanted to,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;But, having gone on an adventure, I think Buddy has satisfied his curiosity and is just glad to be back here eating moss with his reindeer friends.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764634456_186_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9b2fd740-ce98-11f0-8aea-9bb38a12301a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"HM Coastguard Crosby Photo of a reindeer running down a street. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>HM Coastguard Crosby<\/p>\n<p>Buddy&#8217;s unscheduled spot of sightseeing caused quite a stir around Formby <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Essentially, they are pack animals and thrive on each other&#8217;s company.&#8221;   <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr Howard said &#8220;appropriate control measures&#8221; had been taken to stop a reoccurrence of Buddy&#8217;s roaming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The animal has also been given two medical checks and a course of antibiotics.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;The safety and wellbeing of our reindeer is paramount,&#8221; he said.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Howard Buddy is back in his enclosure after his travels A reindeer which sparked a huge search&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-324382","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\/324382","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=324382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}