After a number of enquiries to the website with regard to the purchasing of festival tails as novelty Christmas gifts, we feel duty-bound to remind potential tail swingers that a ‘tail is for life and not just for Christmas’.

Our long-standing campaign aims to raise awareness of the consequences of treating tails as gifts or toys. Every year hundreds of thousands of grown-up children plead for the latest fad or top toy on the market, only to discard them a few weeks after Christmas when the novelty wears off. Unfortunately, the same can be true of tails. We are continually seeking to change this.

Over the last couple of years there have been an increasing number of sad and moving abuse stories that have caught our attention and we have often been forced to pass our photographic evidence on to the appropriate authorities. For example:

A Buzzing Bee tail painfully neglected and trapped in the boot of a Y-reg white Astra hatchback – the car was later discovered to be owned by a 35-year-old Geordie glue sniffer who mumbled to tail protection officers that he ‘did it for a laugh’.

Another Buzzing Bee tail was discarded in the cold draughty hall of a family suburban semi – dangerously close to live electrical sockets and under the full flow of a substantial letter box. This tail was rescued by chance by a well meaning religious ‘door knocker’ and now sees out its days on the peaceful Isle of Wright.

So please, if you are thinking about gifting a festival tail for Christmas please ensure that you consider your purchase in a responsible manner.There have also been disturbing reports of tail fighting; people ‘egging on’ each other to use one tail to fight another tail in a sadistic spectacle of fluff bashing for the amusement of a jeering, beer gushing crowds – such people can only be described as sick and talentless individuals who deserve nothing.

We will work endlessly to expose and end tail abuse. Our tail protection officers and legal team have worked closely with the police and the CPS to ensure those who misuse tails, illegally distribute tails and encourage their abuse are brought to justice.

Tags: novelty xmas gifts, tail abuse, xmas tails