Utah Reindeer

Thank you for visiting our Go Fund Me page. This was a very difficult decision for us to start a fundraiser, but with the countless people asking how to donate or how they can help, we felt this was the best option. We are Jeff and Emily Mabey. The owners behind Utah Reindeer and the caregivers of these truly remarkable, magical, unique animals. We have a small herd of pet Reindeer near Salt Lake City, Utah. They are part of Santas Reindeer "in training" as we like to say to little kids. Over the past few weeks, we have been continually pleading with our followers, family and friends for prayers and support as we have battled one of the largest trials and hardships our family and business have endured. We tragically lost 2 of our reindeer in a sudden horrible accident and have another reindeer fighting for her life as she has battled multiple sicknesses. These losses have taken a toll on many aspects of our lives and have significantly impacted our reindeer herd.

We'd LOVE to give back to those who wish to donate. We are still working on ways to do so. Since we can't access your personal information (address or email) we are unsure how to send/offer items/experiences. But we will update this page with further plans. Most likely we will ask donors to send us their contact info if they would like to receive a gift.

For example:

$50+ Donations will be added you to our “Utah Reindeer Supporters” list on our website.

$100 + Donations will receive a Reindeer "Hoof print" on canvas

$500+ Donations will receive 2 one of a kind Reindeer Milk Soaps and Utah Reindeer Candle

$5,000+ Donations will receive an "Reindeer Adoption" packet and will be able to NAME a future reindeer (born on the farm or purchased) and come and meet that reindeer in Person!

A detailed story below:

For the past 3.5 months, we’ve been in an ongoing battle with Holly's health. One sickness after another accompanied by vet visit after vet visit and countless treatments to try and help our sweet girl. Just when we felt we had reached our breaking point and that we could not handle anymore… the unthinkable happened.

Several weeks ago, our life was turned upside down. Jeff was bringing our two youngest reindeer home from Ice Castles for the weekend, so we could attend our grandmother's funeral out of State. When he was waved down by a driver. Jeff quickly saw what was wrong. The side door on the trailer had somehow broken, unlatched and the door was open. He jumped out of the truck and ran back to an EMPTY trailer. The fellow driver said, “a few stops back, the door swung open and something jumped out….” Words can’t quite describe the sorrow Jeff felt at this moment. He called Emily to explain that “the deer were gone”. We had absolutely no clue how we’d find them. We got in contact with the Local Police who informed us they had already had multiple calls and they were with the deer… when Jeff arrived at the scene, he went into shock and was horrified by the news that Jingle, our beloved 9-month-old female had been hit by a car and killed. Peppermint, our 2-year-old female was hit, but still alive. No humans were injured by hitting them. Jeff couldn’t walk, talk, or compose himself. He fell to the floor in agony over this experience. These Reindeer are such a huge part of our life and we work tirelessly to keep them safe, happy, healthy and loved. To know we lost Jingle was just too much for Jeff to handle. The amazing police officer on the scene just held Jeff as he sobbed…

They quickly rushed Peppermint to the Vet who did a thorough exam, took X-rays of every inch of her body, ran fluids and gave pain meds as well as steroids. He felt she was in shock and in pain, but would survive. However, we all knew we had a long road ahead of us… for 4 days we gave fluids, hand walked, and spent every minute with Peppermint rehabbing her. 5 days after the accident, things started going downhill, once Peppermint could start moving around more, her front leg gave out. We had the vet X-ray her again to find all the ligaments snapped and she could no longer use her front leg. The vet felt we should try to splint her leg so the pressure wouldn’t break the bone. We created a special splint and she handled it pretty well, for the first 12 hours… however once the initial pain and steroid medications started wearing off, her little body just couldn’t handle it. Peppermint passed away just hours later due to internal damage from the accident, which crushed our hearts even more.

After losing both Jingle and Peppermint… our efforts went back full force to Holly. Our hearts, family and program couldn’t handle the blow of losing a 3rd deer, all within a week… although with how things were looking and only a 10% chance given by our veterinarian, we were feeling pretty low. They found blood in Holly's lungs, she was severely dehydrated and getting weaker by the moment. We were told she was most likely not going to survive.

During this time, we decided to do blood work on Tinsel, our last surviving, healthy female… which just added another heartache to the list. Her results came back questionable as well.

We were praying for answers and felt strongly that we needed to travel to a large Veterinary hospital that had the resources and experiences with Reindeer. Which led us to CSU. Although we all felt Holly would probably not survive the trip, we decided there was no other option. Our vet in Utah is PHENOMENAL, he worked tirelessly for so many hours to help us… but also agreed it might be good to try a facility with more history with Reindeer.

Jeff and his dad left for CSU the night after a large Snow storm in Utah. What should have been an 8-9 hour trip, took them just over 24 hours… but, the girls made it!

Holly and Tinsel both underwent extensive testing. Diagnosing what is wrong with a reindeer is one thing…. But treating it is just as difficult. Reindeer are extremely sensitive and not only do they not show signs of sickness until it’s almost too late, but once their bodies start to “give up” it’s very difficult to help them. One issue after the next and plans made, failed and different roads taken, they decided they needed to do a CT scan on Holly. This was very traumatic for us because many of our reindeer friends have lost deer on the table from general anesthesia. They don’t handle sedation well. However, Holly got through it and they were able to do the procedure. The vets have decided her body has just taken so much, one sickness after the other and it has taken its toll on her body. The biggest concern at this point is a dead tooth in her mouth, which they planned to sedate her again and remove. The surgery to remove the tooth was quoted to be 1-hour ... because of the location and difficulty of reaching the tooth, the surgery turned into a 4 hour procedure. The entire time we were nervously awaiting the news that she didn't make it, due to how long it was taking. However, our Holly girl is a fighter and she woke up from the anesthesia. She has a large incision on the side of her face where they had to cut open to reach the tooth and it will take some time to heal. We are hoping with that necrotic tooth removed, she will get her appetite back and start feeling better. Tinsel received the needed medicine and has started her journey to a full recovery.

We still have a long road ahead. We are nowhere near done fighting for these special girls. Holly will need a lot of TLC and patience to get back to her old self, but we are constantly praying to and thanking our Father in Heaven for keeping her here with us, for this long!

Holly has touched MANY people's lives. Visiting people in need of Christmas cheer, posing in family pictures, bringing joy to young and old at every event she attends and many other special memories. One of our favorites was taking Holly to visit Children up at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. She’s the kindest reindeer you’ll ever meet.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading, caring and being willing to hear this difficult story that is so hard for us to tell. We are still grieving and are waiting to “wake up from this nightmare”, but we do have tremendous gratitude in our hearts for ALL the family and friends who have stepped up to help us during this difficult time. Although we’ve experienced such a tragic accident we have strived every day to find the positive and continue to count our blessings.

We have always made sure to keep plenty of funds saved in case of an emergency with ANY of our animals. This entire ordeal has definitely made a huge impact on that as we have chosen to fight and do whatever means necessary to keep these girls alive. We have spent approximately $20,000 in vet expenses since January 2023 to try to save Peppermint and to keep Tinsel and Holly alive. The health and happiness of our animals are of utmost importance.

Thank you again! We are so blessed to have such amazing followers, friends and family! Our hearts are full of tremendous sorrow but with time, we hope they will heal and we can just cherish the special memories we had with Jingle and Peppermint.

Please continue to keep Holly and Tinsel in your prayers, as they are still going through testing, and procedures and are not completely out of the woods yet!