MORAVIA - The rumors can be put to rest: Santa's reindeer are alive and well.

It seems as though a hunting vacation in Canada has caused a Christmas scare for the children of Moravia.

Phil Franklin, owner of Franklin Hardware in Locke, goes caribou hunting each year in Ungaua, Quebec, and hangs his kills in front of his business before they are processed.

But caribous look so much like reindeer, that some local children are convinced they are Santa's reindeer.

“They do look like reindeer when you are driving by and see them,” said Corey Meddaugh, of Locke. “I can see how young kids would make that mistake.”

Some children who have seen them are afraid that there will be no Christmas this year because Santa's reindeer are dead and hanging in front of Franklin's business.

Kathy Franklin, Phil's wife, was told that teenagers may have helped spread the rumor, alarming local elementary school students.

“The older kids seem to be teasing the younger ones,” Kathy said.

A hunting party of 10 local men drove 33 hours north, to the Cree Indian land that borders the Arctic Ocean, and brought home 10 caribou that now hang in Franklin's front parking lot. The hunting season for caribou in Quebec runs Nov. 15 to Feb. 15, and Franklin's hunting party goes each December.

Franklin said that all licensing and border permits were acquired for the transportation of the animals back into the United States.

“We hunt the caribou from the James River herd,” Franklin said. “In that region, hunting caribou is just as common as hunting deer is here.”

He said the caribou do resemble reindeer and he can see how children could make that mistake, especially if being told so by older kids.

“Someone made the mistake of taking them as moose,” Franklin said. “The next thing you knew, the Ithaca DEC (Department of Conservation) were here.”

All in all, the Franklins said that for every complaint about the caribou carcasses, they hear 100 positive comments on the subject.

Dave Bishop, a fellow caribou hunter, said a little education would solve the problem.

“Most kids do know that they are caribou, and not Santa's reindeer,” he said. “If a parent tells them the difference, they will know.”

Franklin said that he feels bad that the kids are confused, but is proud to say that because of his hunting trip this year, a 21-year-old blind woman now knows what a caribou looks like.

“Her father stopped by the store and asked if his daughter could come down and feel the caribou,” he said. “She had been blind from birth and may have not known what a caribou looked like otherwise.”

Franklin said although they will continue to hang the caribou at the front of his business

each year, he can promise

children they are not Santa's reindeer.

“I promise that there will indeed be a Christmas this year,” he said.