(CNN) -- One mall Santa might be getting some coal in his stocking this year. Last week, Santa Claus and a helper elf from The Shops at Mission Viejo in California turned away a 7-year-old girl with autism and her service dog, a pit bull named Pup-Cake. According to the Orange County Register, Abcde Santos, who pronounces her first name "ab-suh-dee," and Pup-Cake stood in line for 30 minutes to meet with the unnamed mall Santa. But he declined to meet the girl because he feared the 5-year-old pit bull. "After the Santos family offered to remove the dog from the area, the building, Santa still refused to see the child," Julie Miller, a family friend who runs a Facebook page dedicated to Pup-Cake and service animals, told the Register.
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A mall Santa in California reportedly turned away a child
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The 7-year-old has autism and a pit bull as a service dog
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Santa company says he and his helper elf have been assigned other duties
Miller told the paper the family is pleased with the decision to replace the @placeholder and hopes it will lead to better awareness.
"They want people to get educated not about autism or pit bulls, but about the disabilities act so that little girls like @placeholder won't go and see Santa and end up crying," she said.