Jacob’s Creek Winery Adds Kangaroo Cruelty to its Repertoire.
March 21, 2012
Wildlife volunteers have stated that 23 kangaroos used by award-winning Jacob’s Creek winery to bring in tourists, were found in what they believed to be a malnourished state. Some were so apparently neglected that they were in “shocking” pain from untreated injuries.
Jacob’s Creek, owned by French company Orlando Wines, is one of Australia’s best-known international brands, and just recently won the Australian Tourism Award for best tourism winery.
Volunteer group Fauna Rescue said that Jacob’s Creek approached it last year to find the kangaroos at its Rowland flat winery a new home. The group’s kangaroo expert Kerry Colmer said the winery “enquired” if Fauna Rescue could find the animals a new home before the end of the year and she claimed a winery representative then told her if they weren’t relocated the company would “shoot” them.
She said when she and two other volunteers had visited the center at the winery’s invitation last June, they photographed:
– CARCASSES of joeys and adult kangaroos in the enclosure;
– EMPTY food bowls;
– NO EDIBLE vegetation available for the animals;
– SEVERELY disabled kangaroos in pain from untreated injuries;
– MALNOURISHED kangaroos.
Fauna Rescue volunteers had then worked 14 hours a day over the weekend of January 7-8 to relocate the 23 kangaroos to Banrock Station, near Barmera. Fauna Rescue says it is yet to be paid for the costs it incurred for hiring a van and transporting the kangaroos between the Barossa and the Riverland.
Ms Colmer said she emailed Jacob’s Creek immediately after the move, detailing the costs and suggesting Orlando Wines whose parent company Pernod Ricard made a $2 billion profit last year might also consider a donation to acknowledge the large amount of volunteer time spent on the relocation. She said the group still had “not received a cent”. “I have sent several emails inquiring when Fauna Rescue will be reimbursed its costs and my emails have been either ignored, or I have been told payment will be forthcoming but it never arrives,” she said.
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My Thoughts…
Not that I really ever bought their wines, but this is still incredibly disturbing.
Animal cruelty is one of those things that strikes a chord with me. As soon as I found out about GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons killing elephants in South Africa, I immediately moved all my registered domains, and vowed to never use them again.
Unless Jacob’s Creek /Orlando Wines provide a decent response to these accusations, which according to their Facebook Page (with 86,000+ fans) they appear to be “investigating”, I seriously suggest you revise your decision to ever buy Jacob’s Creek wine again. It’s not as if there isn’t a plethora of other behemoth Australian wine brands out there!
