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Coverage in the Aussie media:
Yellow Tail donation gets website wagging
BY LUCY MARTIN
15 Feb, 2010 10:41 AM
IT SEEMS Casella Wines' American honeymoon is over, with the Yenda-based company finding itself at the centre of a bizarre backlash after a donation program went horribly wrong.
The saga began with good intentions when the US branch of Yellow Tail announced it would donate $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The problem is, HSUS is widely regarded to be a militant vegan organisation that, rather than actually helping animals with the donation, would spend it on lobbying the government, violent raids and attempts to eradicate agriculture.
The response was explosive.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance released a statement claiming only $4000 of the donation would go to animal aid, while Dallas web commentator Caleb Schultz took aim on his popular agriculture blog.
"The problem is, HSUS simply don't do much to help animals - they continually push their extreme vegetarian views on the American public and basically want to see animal agriculture cease to exist. The bottom line is, they want you out of business if you're a livestock producer," Mr Schultz wrote.
Social networking sites lit up with comments from furious American farmers and animal lovers, with a Facebook page called "Yellow Fail" attracting over 2000 members in its first week.
A South Dakota cattle farmer posted a video of himself pouring a bottle of the popular wine into the snow, and photos of Yellow Tail being poured down the toilet are circulating the internet.
The story has been picked up by websites, newspapers and television stations across the US.
Stunned Yellow Tail staff reacted by announcing they would honour their commitment but ask that the donation be used specifically for HSUS's animal rescue project.
"We may not always agree with 100 per cent of what an organisation represents, but rescuing animals displaced from natural disasters is a cause we support," a Yellow Tail spokesperson said.
"It is our policy to continually assess the impact of all of our charitable gifts and consumer feedback is extremely important to us."
Yellow Tail donation gets website wagging
BY LUCY MARTIN
15 Feb, 2010 10:41 AM
IT SEEMS Casella Wines' American honeymoon is over, with the Yenda-based company finding itself at the centre of a bizarre backlash after a donation program went horribly wrong.
The saga began with good intentions when the US branch of Yellow Tail announced it would donate $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The problem is, HSUS is widely regarded to be a militant vegan organisation that, rather than actually helping animals with the donation, would spend it on lobbying the government, violent raids and attempts to eradicate agriculture.
The response was explosive.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance released a statement claiming only $4000 of the donation would go to animal aid, while Dallas web commentator Caleb Schultz took aim on his popular agriculture blog.
"The problem is, HSUS simply don't do much to help animals - they continually push their extreme vegetarian views on the American public and basically want to see animal agriculture cease to exist. The bottom line is, they want you out of business if you're a livestock producer," Mr Schultz wrote.
Social networking sites lit up with comments from furious American farmers and animal lovers, with a Facebook page called "Yellow Fail" attracting over 2000 members in its first week.
A South Dakota cattle farmer posted a video of himself pouring a bottle of the popular wine into the snow, and photos of Yellow Tail being poured down the toilet are circulating the internet.
The story has been picked up by websites, newspapers and television stations across the US.
Stunned Yellow Tail staff reacted by announcing they would honour their commitment but ask that the donation be used specifically for HSUS's animal rescue project.
"We may not always agree with 100 per cent of what an organisation represents, but rescuing animals displaced from natural disasters is a cause we support," a Yellow Tail spokesperson said.
"It is our policy to continually assess the impact of all of our charitable gifts and consumer feedback is extremely important to us."