{"id":84664,"date":"2025-12-07T04:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T04:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/84664\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T04:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T04:40:10","slug":"murphy-the-dog-loving-reindeer-wows-crowds-at-december-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/84664\/","title":{"rendered":"Murphy the dog-loving reindeer wows crowds at December Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Murphy the reindeer. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/ Times of San Diego<\/p>\n

As people passed the pen, they stopped and grabbed their cameras to take a picture. One woman exclaimed, \u201cWhere did they find a reindeer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy the two-year-old reindeer made his debut at December Nights<\/a> this weekend with his handler, Gabe Kerschner, close by the whole time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time December Nights has brought a reindeer on the grounds of Balboa Park, but it was the first time attendees got to see one of the creatures face to face.<\/p>\n

McKinna Dartez Chrismer, one of the architects behind December Nights, said that last year organizers brought reindeer out for the media before the event opened, but not for the actual festivities.\u00a0 People who saw the coverage, then came to the park, asked where the reindeer were, so this year they decided to invite Kerschner and his friends back.<\/p>\n

Kerschner is one of the co-founders of Conservation Ambassadors<\/a>, a group that cares for displaced wildlife. Members make it their mission to educate the public about conservation. That\u2019s where Murphy comes in.<\/p>\n

He came to Kerscher\u2019s ranch from a farm in Washington that didn\u2019t have the capacity to take care of him as he grew. Now Murphy spends his time on the Conservation Ambassadors ranch in the Lake Tahoe area. A typical week for him includes traveling to different schools, where Kerschner introduces him to the kids and teaches them about the species.<\/p>\n

He spends everyday with Murphy, living on the ranch, and said that as the reindeer\u2019s personality is quite \u201cneedy,\u201d he is a fan of the attention he gets at schools and special events.<\/p>\n

Another of Murphy\u2019s quirks? A fascination with dogs. As Kerschner said this, he motioned to Murphy standing behind him and called his name, but the reindeer didn\u2019t budge, continuing to stare at a Bernese Mountain Dog a couple yards away.<\/p>\n

\"AA grand tree at Spreckels Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park, Dec. 5, 2025. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"AA holiday tree lights up the night at December Nights, Balboa Park, Dec. 5, 2025. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"AGabe Kerschner, with Murphy the reindeer, at December Nights, Dec. 5, 2025. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"TheEven dinosaurs have the Christmas spirit at December Nights on Dec. 5, 2025 at Balboa Park. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"SantaSanta is ready for his close-up at December Nights, Deb. 5, 2025, Balboa Park. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"APerformers in holiday garb at December Nights, Dec.5, 2-25, Balboa Park. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)\"TheThe San Diego Museum of Us puts out the welcome mat for December Nights, Dec. 5, 2025. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Kerschner\u2019s quick to mention the fact that reindeer are one of the earliest recorded domesticated large mammals and that caribou have one of the largest migrations on the planet, with around half a million of them traveling across the Arctic, land that\u2019s also threatened by pipeline production.<\/p>\n

He hopes that in teaching children about the animals and their habitat, they\u2019ll grow up cognizant of conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that the kids are going to vote on it now, but I want them to know this is a very real animal and it\u2019s out there and it\u2019s not just something on a cartoon or (in) Frozen,\u201d Kerschner said.<\/p>\n

Their ranch recently got a Capybara, a rodent, similar to a guinea pig, that 10 years ago, people didn\u2019t immediately recognize. Now, with the internet, children are familiar with them, Kerschner said. But with the recognition comes added challenges to educate kids on the reality of these animals and their nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the problem with that is, everybody thinks capybaras are out there surfing around on crocodiles\u2019 backs and these AI things. That\u2019s a problem, but the word is (out) there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that it\u2019s not just kids who are unfamiliar with the animals, but adults too. Events like December Nights help introduce the species to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the most important thing we do is this. Being able to help an individual creature is great, and I come at it with a big heart, and I want to help the animals,\u201d Kerschner said. \u201cBut seeing the kids\u2019 eyes come alive \u2026 and just sharing the world around them with them is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Murphy the reindeer. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/ Times of San Diego As people passed the pen, they stopped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4549,47754,30214,47755,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-84664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-balboa-park","9":"tag-conservation-ambassadors","10":"tag-december-nights","11":"tag-reindeer","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}