Yellow Tail Wine Gives Money to HSUS
Sportsmen Urged to Voice Protest
From US Sportsmen's Alliance
The Australian maker of Yellow Tail Wine has pledged $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation’s largest anti-hunting organization. This partnership offers further proof of HSUS’ work to spin its animal rights message in a way as to seem mainstream.
As HSUS states on its website:
“… the HSUS has paired with [yellow tail] for the "tails for tails" program. Through the end of March, you'll see special [yellow tail] displays bearing The HSUS name and logo in stores across the country.
Through "tails for tails," [yellow tail] is donating $100,000 to support us and our programs to help animals, including our Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest.”
Alerted to this relationship, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) immediately contacted the American distributor of the wine, W.J. Deutsch and Sons Ltd., and urged them to ask Yellow Tail to sever its relationship with HSUS.
A copy of the letter the USSA sent to management can be found by clicking here. Thus far, the USSA has not heard from W.J. Deutsch regarding our request.
“This wine maker has fallen into the same trap as other companies who donate money to HSUS,” said Bud Pidgeon, president of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance. “They believe they are helping animals in shelters when in fact they are funding an agenda from an animal rights group that is largely divergent from the vast majority of Americans.” Link
Yesterday morning I became aware of Yellow Tail Wines plan to donate $100,000 to HSUS. As an amateur wine enthusiast, I was very familiar with the Yellow Tail name. They are an Australian wine company that sells many different varieties of wine at a very reasonable price. The good value you get with this wine has made it quite popular in the United States and readily available almost anywhere. Unfortunately they were somehow convinced that donating money to the HSUS would be a great way to help needy dogs and cats. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m sure their heart was in the right place, but their money is headed to the wrong one.
According to the HSUS tax returns, chances are that if Yellow Tail does give them the full $100,000, only $500 would end up going to a hands-on pet shelter. Historically, only one-half of one percent of their $200,000,000 budget does.
In order to let Yellow Tail know how I felt about this, I looked up their Facebook fan page and left a comment. In addition to that, I put it out on Twitter and our Advocates for Ag Facebook fan page, and asked everyone else to do the same. And boy did they ever! In the last 24 hours, several hundred comments have been left by people from all over the country voicing their frustrations. This same scene is being played out on their Twitter page. So far, one single response has been offered by Yellow Tail, only stating that they will be announcing something soon. That’s PR speak for “Uh oh, what do we do now?”
By not doing the necessary research and having an entire industry, one of which they are part of, calling them out, Yellow Tail is now in a near no-win situation. The high paid lawyers from HSUS will no doubt put the pressure on them to fulfill their previous commitment, but if they do, it will be at the expense of thousands of upset customers. It’s not impossible for them save face though. My guess is that not many of the executives over at HSUS (where more than 40 of them make greater than $100,000) drink much Yellow Tail. I’m sure it’s beneath their standards. However, Yellow Tail has become wine that hard working Americans, many of whom are involved in agriculture, do enjoy. If they care about their customers, they will stop this from happening.
If you haven’t left your comments on Yellow Tail’s Facebook page, please do so. You can also contact them through Twitter at @YellowTail_USA . Thanks for everyone’s help. Yesterday was a great example of what can happen when Team Agriculture suits up together to make it’s voice be heard! ~Troy
9 comments:
The HSUS is only out to stop people from eating meat. They do not care about farm animals. Farmers and Ranchers would not be in business today unless they are taking good care of the animals in their care. The dairy farmer who killed his cows before himself is a good example of the attachment between animals and livestock. The poor man worried that his cows would suffer if they were not milked after he was dead and then they would suffer greatly do to not being milked on time and end up dying a slow horrible death. With a few exceptions, farmers and ranchers to the right thing. Many times confined livestock has warmer buildings and better water than the farmer has at home. Animals and poultry must stay healthy or there is no profit for the farm and if there is no profit there is no longer a farm. Which is the case for dairy farms, the price for the milk is so low that there is no profit to pay all the expenses for the farm (and the family has expenses also). Do we really want our milk coming to the US from China?
You need to stop this donation to HSUS and do some research into this group. They are no who or what they say they are.
As an old advocate of agriculture by nature, we are back. As a new advocates of agriculture, we realize that our roles are no longer passive roles, but active. Active in order to be successful. Action is needed now. Change of lifestyles and also our work and socioeconomic and political endeavors. Big business and the government are not really much for middle of America or those who want to work hard and rise above. The American dream is struggling to come to the top. Like cream on milk. The "Cream-Line." There is nothing wrong or unfair with working hard to get to the top of your field.
There is a man, that we all recently met. His name is David Gumpert. In ways, he is like a "FOREST GUMP." and that is good in our opinion otherwise Tom HANKS and Forest Gump would not have made it like they did. As parents, we are the Sally Filds. And the Forest Gumps of the world are our children and for this time we are also him. we need Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Agriculture needs you. David Gumpert has research, reported, and written a great book for today called, "THE RAW MILK REVOLUTION - Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights." Read this and think about what you are doing and what you can do to be successful. To be happy. To live with Virtue.
Thank you David Gumpert, Forest Gump, for coming out.
The Milkmen USA
for any one wanting to learn more about the basics of HSUS check out this website http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/o/136-humane-society-of-the-united-states Maybe some one should post this site on the yellow tail facebook fan page......I am one of the few that doesn't facebook.
Cheers to Troy. Keep up the good work.
1. What a hypocrisy especially knowing how grape yards are ecological and wild life friendly. As any other mean of agriculture that destroys wild life habitat on enormous scale.
I will never support Yellowtail after this.
Last time I buy this brand of wine with this company supporting these radical nuts HSUS.
I hope deer eat each and every one of your grape crops.
You guys really shot yourselves in the foot now.
HSUS uses the magic words "animal rescue" to raise tens of millions of dollars a year. Rescue, disaster relief, and puppy mills are pure fundraising gold.
Yellowtail is donating to HSUS for "rescuing animals from large scale cruelty cases and natural disasters." The first typically involves playing a supporting role in a raid and helping local shelters and other national groups set up an emergency shelter/staging area (most of the HSUS helpers are volunteers); bringing a camera crew to film the whole show for their website; and sometimes a rescue truck to transport some of the animals to what they like to call "HSUS's partner shelters." Press releases then credit HSUS for the whole operation and fundraising appeals seek money to "offset the expenses" involved.
As far as disaster relief, ask the Louisiana Attorney General about that. Too bad Haiti doesn't have an Attorney General.
Yellowtail is also supporting the pet photo contest for the upcoming "Spay Day." Spay Day was created in the 90s by the Doris Day Animal League as an annual event/holiday where local shelters and veterinarians organize sterilization surgeries in a nationwide effort to curb pet overpopulation. The Doris Day League didn't pay for the surgeries and never claimed to. In 2006, Wayne Pacelle personally convinced Doris Day to let HSUS "merge" with the DDAL. The marketable Spay Day became an HSUS program. Any money they may give to outside groups for Spay Day will come not from their $200 million bank account but from this new fundraising appeal. Any money handed over will be dwarfed by the huge amount of money they make for their own programs through the Spay Day fundraising contest. Meanwhile, despite the merger, Doris Day Animal League continues to fundraise aggressively as a separate organization. HSUS now calls it a "corporate combination." I reguarly receive solicitations with Doris Day's name and photo on them and the HSUS DC address. According to Animal People, $750,000 raised by the Doris Day Animal League in 2008was funneled to the Humane Society Legislative Fund.
That is some of what Yellowtail is rewarding.
Hello, i'm a farmer and have no problem with the HSUS. But I care about my animals. I don't millions that I can't take care of because I'm greedy like so many so called farmers.
I have enough land and animals that I can handle. I care and have top quality products that my community appreciates.
Farming can be done without mistreating animals. Farming can be done without keeping animals in tight quarters. A living can be made without being greedy.
Shop local and eat local.
I read this story with great interest. It seems Yellow Tail is very good at marketing AND shooting themselves in the foot.
"How Yellow Tail crushed the Australian Wine Industry"
http://www.slate.com/id/2215153/
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