RSPCA urging parents to ditch this new harmful Christmas trend

There are many Christmas traditions that we love to share with our children every year.

However the RSPCA have issued an appeal asking parents to ditch one new Christmas trend that is harming animals. Originally posted in 2016, the animal charity have re-shared their post in the hopes that more parents might see it. Their post is in regards to the popular trend of spreading 'reindeer food', the contents of which contain food products  that are poisonous to animals. The 'reindeer food' also contains plastics that are inter-mingled with oats that could make animals, both wildlife and pets, extremely ill if ingested. The charity posted to their social media;

"Urgent plea to save garden wildlife from harm this Christmas! If your child has made pretty reindeer food please do not 'sprinkle on the lawn' as the labels suggest as many of our very hungry small garden birds and mammals could ingest the plastic and foil glitter along with the oats potentially causing long term damage to their digestive systems ( this includes 'edible glitter' which was made to be safe for humans but poses a serious threat to wild animals like birds) Please instead leave in a small bowl indoors alongside FC's mince pie. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!"

Some parents commented on the post that mixing glitter with oats was a waste of food in general which I have to agree with. There's nothing wrong with spreading natural oats in your garden and some small animals might be grateful for it when the weather gets colder.