UK supermarket chain ASDA has removed a ‘Tranny-saurus Rex’ card after complaints from angry customers.

Writer and digital artist Tamlyn MacPherson discovered the greeting card sold for £1.50 ($2.30, €1.75) at the supermarket, owned by US company Walmart.

The card shows two cavemen made of modelling clay staring at a green dinosaur in a pink wig, lipstick and handbag and saying, ‘Oh look! A Tranny-saurus!’

Taking to her blog, MacPherson posted she had found the card ‘wholly distasteful’ and asked them to remove it from their stores.

‘”Just having a laugh” does not justify any form of abuse, be it based on race, sexual orientation or gender identity, and indeed all three are protected from discrimination under the law,’ she said.

‘While it may seem funny to people at your company, let me explain the every day reality for a trans person.

‘Images such as this add to the public consciousness that trans people are to be openly mocked and ridiculed for no other reason than that they are transgender.

‘The cartoon image you have used, even if not intended for children, would certainly be appealing to them. Do you believe it is right to encourage young children to mock and ridicule those who are different?’

MacPherson added the word ‘tranny’ is a highly offensive term, and is used primarily as either a direct insult towards transgender people, or as an aggressively sexualized term in relationship to internet pornography.

She said: ‘If you are sat there reading this and thinking “Oh get a sense of humor”, please go and look every trans person in the eye who has ever been bullied, abused or attacked, or in to the eyes of the families of trans people who have been murdered for their gender identity, and tell them to get a sense of humor, to get a life.’

An ASDA spokesman said they decided to remove the card from sale in July.

They said: ‘We want to reassure that we have a commitment to LGBT and never wanted to cause offence with the card.’