Runaway reindeer sparks armed police response after dashing from town Christmas celebration

Armed police, Royal Marines and the Coastguard sprung into action when the reindeer fled the festivities in Formby, Merseyside in the early afternoon on Saturday.

After hours looking for the animal, Merseyside Police managed to locate it on a beach with before it vanished from view again.

Concerns grew the reindeer could end up in a nearby river, so officers called in assistance from the lifeboat quad team as well as coastguard teams from HM Coastguard Southport and HM Coastguard Crosby.

The Southport Lifeboat team managed to locate the animal using thermal binoculars and then used a quad bike to shepherd it into some nearby sand dunes.

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As the reindeer was "pretty tired", it eventually laid down to rest in the dunes, making capture possible.

A vet travelled from Salisbury with sedatives, and plans were made to tranquilise the animal and then get it in a trailer and back to its stable.

The vet was supported by the Royal Marines, who were on exercise in a nearby firing range, and managed to sedate the animal at around 1.20am on Sunday morning.

The reindeer was eventually returned to its owners in Wales.

'Christmas is saved'

The spokesperson for Southport Lifeboat described the evening’s events as “bizarre”, adding: “It’s quite topical for the time of year, isn’t it?”

They said the emergency services are happy to “lend a hand” and all played a part in the rescue.

“Christmas is saved thanks to some great work from multiple agencies,” Southport Lifeboat added.

HM Coastguard Crosby posted about the rescue on Facebook, commenting: “Thankfully Christmas is saved thanks to all agencies involved.”