The animal rights protesters, believed to be linked to the same group that stormed some of the Gold Coast’s theme parks over the weekend, crashed the small party yesterday afternoon, saying the deer were being “exploited”.

They handed out pamphlets and filmed the children patting the reindeer.

But the stunt has attracted backlash, with social media users slamming it as a “low act” and “stupid”.

Queensland Police were called to move the protesters, a group of less than 10 people, and managed to get them to relocate across the road from the hospital in South Brisbane.

One of the protesters, Daniel Heggie, spoke to the Brisbane Timesand said the animals were being “exploited”.

“Under the costumes and sleigh, these deer are exploited animals,” Mr Heggie said.

“Someone has to speak on behalf of the deer, because they don’t have a voice.”

The protesters sat and watched the party from across the street after being moved on.

Some of the families from the Christmas celebration said the visiting reindeer had lifted the spirit of their ailing children.

Vanessa Challen’s daughter Maddison, 6, has a rare tissue cancer and has been at the hospital for the past year having treatment.

“It is a really tough time of the year for kids to be sick. She has been so excited about the reindeer,” Ms Challen told the Brisbane Times.

Maddison was diagnosed with the highly aggressive cancer 18 months ago and the Challen family, from Bundaberg, 360km north of Brisbane, have spent 2018 away from their home so the six-year-old can receive proper treatment.

Maddison has been excitedly waiting through the year to meet the reindeer.

“It means the world to us to have this experience. We had a big scare with Maddison’s scans last week, so this has made her really happy,” Ms Challen said.

The protest was lashed on social media with many commenters calling their location choice “shameful”.

“How to get people to actively NOT support your cause. These activists are a special kind of stupid,” Stephen Stay wrote.

“You think they would have something better to do then (sic) picking on sick kids (at) Christmas. What a low act,” Daniel Giddins added.

“I’m totally against animal cruelty but also believe activists should consider what they are doing before they protest like this,” Jess Meier said. “Those kids don’t know what’s going on, they are sick and the hospital is just trying to give them a little piece of happiness at Christmas. To ruin that for the kids is just plain wrong!”

The protest comes just days after dozens of children and their families were forced to watch a distressing situation at SeaWorld on Saturday when members from animal rights group Justice For Captives stormed the dolphin show.

The group jumped in the pool and refused to leave the water until the dolphin show was stopped.

The protesters successfully shut down the dolphin show and disrupted the seal show where one arrest was made.

They also stormed Village Roadshow’s Outback Spectacular show on Saturday night, and Dreamworld, which is owned by another company, on Sunday.