Grieving reindeer seeking friend to not spend Christmas alone

The owner of heartbroken Sven has launched a bid to ship a new female mate 300 miles to his paddock - so he isn't 'Lonely this Christmas'.

Sven lost his stable-mate Clause three weeks ago following a short illness, leaving the herd animal alone.

The death sparked fears from the animal sanctuary's owner, Suzie Wright, 40, that he might "die from loneliness" if he wasn’t paired up with another caribou quickly.

Suzie with Sven (Image: SWNS)

She went online and found that a female reindeer was available in Dorset, but now needs to raise £4,000 so the doe can be brought to her "lovely boy”, Sven.

Suzie pleaded: “The sooner the better. It would be great for Christmas. If I could get her in next week, I would have her in then.”

You can donate to Sven's cause here.

Suzie bought Sven and Claus in October 2020, and the pair helped local school kids feel the festive spirit during the pandemic.

Over the next three years, the two males lived together happily almost all year round.

But Suzie says Sven, who acts 'like a dog' on her 15-acre estate, now urgently needs to be close to his own kind or his life could be in danger in the months ahead.

Suzie said: “He’s a herd animal, and they become very, very lonely - and can die from loneliness. So if we’re looking at it in a really drastic way, you could be saving his life.

Suzie with Sven (Image: SWNS)

“They need to be with others as they can’t survive on their own for long periods. They might see people, but it’s not the same as mixing with their own kind.

"But we don’t get any outside funding from anywhere else. There isn’t the money there - the money we get in just covers the basic overheads, like the feed.

“He’s super friendly. He’s just a lovely boy. I can give him a hug if I want to. I often say to him, ‘Come here and give me a kiss’.”

Suzie said she wanted to get a female deer so that the pair didn’t need to be separated during the rutting season.

And while she had no plans for Sven and his new mate to have baby reindeer, she said it could happen in the future if they were a good match.

She added: “It’s possible, potentially, because he’s not castrated but one step at a time.

“We’ll see what happens, and nature is a wonderful thing. We haven’t gone for a female for that reason but it may be a by-product later on, we’ll have to see.”