Letters : Reindeer on Tree Lots

Every Christmas season for the past eight years, Stuart Miller, owner of a chain of Christmas-tree lots, imprisons reindeer in small cells with just enough room to turn around.

Miller displays them as the legendary sleigh-pullers Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen and Cupid. Miller has a herd of about 100 deer that he raises on his Newhall ranch. He displays them at half of the 36 tree lots he operates between Reno and San Diego.

The guidelines developed by the American Zoological Assn. call for 500 square feet of space for such animals being caged for extended periods.

On Dec. 8, Miller was ordered by the Department of Animal Regulation to widen the eight-foot-wide cages. An 8-month fawn died when workers entered its cage to unbolt a chain-link partition. “It probably died of heart failure,” said a city wildlife officer. Miller blamed the fawn’s death on animal activists.

I don’t blame Miller for these inhumane acts. After all, he is just trying to make a buck. I blame our legislatures for not having the decency to pass state and national ordinances to protect these animals. I blame those who take their children to these reindeer gulags. I blame those who buy their trees from reindeer prisons. If we act like responsible consumers and don’t buy trees from Miller and the like, the demand for reindeer prisons will die like the fawn.

MICHAEL J. FISCHER

Canoga Park