Yellow Tail Wines and HSUS

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."
 
Here is what I got back from Yellowtail in answer to the email I sent them: Seems like I got the mass email response.


Dear Howard,



Thank you very much for your email. We recognize that many consumers have commented on our donation to the Humane Society.



We’ve listened to your recent feedback and it was very helpful to us – in fact it prompted us to specifically choose the areas where we’d most like to celebrate animals. Here’s what we’ve decided: We’ll still honor our monetary commitment to the HSUS, but now we are specifically directing our $100,000 donation to HSUS’ Animal Rescue Team, which launch on-the-ground missions to rescue animals in peril. The HSUS Animal Rescue Team is a leading disaster response agency for animals, contributing millions of dollars to rebuild animal shelters destroyed in natural disasters, responding to floods, fires, and other disasters.



We may not always agree with 100 percent of what an organization represents, but rescuing animals displaced from natural disasters is a cause we support.



It is our policy to continually assess the impact of all of our charitable gifts and consumer feedback is extremely important to us. We hope that you will understand that this allocation of money is a direct result of hearing your concerns. We are listening, and we thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.



Sincerely,



[yellow tail] wines



 
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Does this sound familar or what:

Dear David,



Thank you very much for your email. We recognize that many consumers have commented on our donation to the Humane Society.



We’ve listened to your recent feedback and it was very helpful to us – in fact it prompted us to specifically choose the areas where we’d most like to celebrate animals. Here’s what we’ve decided: We’ll still honor our monetary commitment to the HSUS, but now we are specifically directing our $100,000 donation to HSUS’ Animal Rescue Team, which launch on-the-ground missions to rescue animals in peril. The HSUS Animal Rescue Team is a leading disaster response agency for animals, contributing millions of dollars to rebuild animal shelters destroyed in natural disasters, responding to floods, fires, and other disasters.



We may not always agree with 100 percent of what an organization represents, but rescuing animals displaced from natural disasters is a cause we support.



It is our policy to continually assess the impact of all of our charitable gifts and consumer feedback is extremely important to us. We hope that you will understand that this allocation of money is a direct result of hearing your concerns. We are listening, and we thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.



Sincerely,



[yellow tail] wines
 
Aussie winemaker rattled by donation backlash
By Kathleen Dyett

Posted Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:45pm AEDT


Animal protection: Yellow Tail Wines donated $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States. (Flickr: Clearly Ambiguous)
A major Australian wine exporter facing a backlash in the United States for donating to a key animal rights group says it will take its support elsewhere in the future.

The $100,000 donation by Yellow Tail Wines to the Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) animal rescue program has prompted a flurry of angry online postings in the US calling for people to boycott the wine.

The HSUS describes itself as the United States' largest and most effective animal protection organisation and it sponsors workshops that teach people how to lobby for animal protection laws.

In response to the donation, a page called Yellow Fail has been set up on the Facebook social networking site and has attracted more than 3,000 fans.

A rancher from South Dakota has posted an online video of himself pouring the wine onto the snow in front of his cattle and urging others to do the same.

The issue has also prompted an article in the New York Post newspaper and comments in various US blogs.

Yellow Tail, owned by the Casella Wines company based at Yenda in the New South Wales Riverina, says it is the first time it has given money to the HSUS.

In a statement to ABC News, the managing director of Casella Wines, John Casella, says the company will look to non-political groups in the future.

"Yellow Tail is committed to the plight of animals in need and as a result, we can confirm that through any future activity, we will be looking to other non-profit organisations without lobbying interests that best deliver on our intended outcome of saving animals," the statement said.

Mr Casella says he never anticipated any negative criticism of the donation and the intention of the partnership with the HSUS was to celebrate and save animals.

"Being farmers ourselves, we acknowledge those who care for their land and their environment, just as we do," he said.

"We are proud of our rural heritage and value a solid relationship with agricultural communities around the world."

The HSUS says the partnership is about celebrating animals and the money will support the organisation's rescue team, which saves animals from natural disasters or cruelty.

www.facebook.com/yellowfail?ref=ts

yt.jpg
 
that sh!t is nasty anyways what is it like 5 bucks a bottle anyways! they just sending money to hide that they farm kangaroos for piss and bottle it.....have no use for anyother countries add aussies to your [beeep] list
 
I originally got the same return email from YT my question to them asked why they wouldn't donate their money to the local humane societies who actually care for animals that are the victims of natural disasters? I will certainly share their response should I ever get one.
 
Facebook campaign forces policy change by wine company

Friday, 26/02/2010

An online campaign by American farmers has forced Australian wine company Yellow Tail to stop supporting animal welfare groups.

The farmers called for a boycott on a Facebook page called Yellow Fail, after the company donated $100,000 to the Humane Society.

Yellow Tail has now agreed it will not donate to animal welfare campaigners in the future, after more than 3000 people joined the online site.

Cattle rancher and internet campaigner Troy Hadrick says it's the first time farmers have used social media to win an animal welfare debate.

"Sometimes there's been questions about is it worth our time to be involved in social media and are we wasting our time?" he says.

"But this is the first time we finally all got on the same page.

"We were selling the same message, and we basically, in just a few weeks' time, forced a multi-national company to change the future course of its donations."


This is the video that took Troy Hadrick less than five minutes to make but made him the face of the campaign against Yellow Tail.


http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201002/s2831082.htm


Yellow Fail Facebook Site: http://www.facebook.com/yellowfail?ref=nf
 
My latest return email from info@wjdeutsch.com confirms that they will honor their commitment to HSUS but in the future they will donate their money to local animal welfare groups that do not display a political agenda. I somehow think that they are just wording their emails to placate me.
 
Originally Posted By: youngdonMy latest return email from info@wjdeutsch.com confirms that they will honor their commitment to HSUS but in the future they will donate their money to local animal welfare groups that do not display a political agenda. I somehow think that they are just wording their emails to placate me.

Gotta agree with you there.
 
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