Ho Ho Ho..Hold on a minute! That shining beacon of fun for children everywhere, Hamleys, is planning to incorporate live animals into their Christmas celebrations in London and Glasgow.
Is this a good example to set to children?
The flagship Regent Street store advertised an in-store event, where both reindeer and penguins would be brought into store. This is surely an irresponsible act, which sends out the wrong message to young children about how we should be treating animals.
My nephew dragged me to Hamleys on several occasions when I lived in London. He absolutely loves it there and takes anything they say as gospel, because he met Shrek in store basically.
It is a very loud, intimidating and warm environment for people, nevermind animals. In my opinion, it is not a suitable environment to take live animals into. We should not forget that these animals will have to be transported through Central London in one of the busiest times of year. The journey would be particularly difficult at the best of times.
Sadly, this is just another example of people exploiting animals for entertainment. Reindeer and penguins are not toys, they should not be paraded around toy stores. Facebook, twitter and forums have been awash with comments against this spectacle, with several animal protection charities encouraging Hamleys to cancel.
Following a barrage of complaints, Hamleys withdrew the event from their website. Hooray we cried....a little too early. Spokespeople for Hamleys have advised the events will still go ahead. Is this right? Would you take your children along? Contribute to the debate below and tell Hamleys what you think by mailing them at customerservices@hamleys.co.uk