HSUS Loses Another Corporate Sponsor

The Tale of Yellow Tail Gets Longer
02/28/2010
By Gary Truitt


Two weeks ago I wrote a column about Yellow Tail wine, the Australian wine that became public enemy No. 1 overnight after donating $100,000.00 to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). After a few lame efforts to defend themselves and to ignore the overwhelming criticism the company was receiving, it finally did the right thing and admitted its mistake. The company promised not to make future donations to the radical animal rights organization. What was especially interesting is that much of the condemnation came from the public and from people outside of agriculture. While farmers and farm groups were a part of the chorus, the depth of dislike for HSUS to - say nothing of the sheer numbers of people enraged by the action - was a major factor in the decision by Yellow Tail to tuck its tail between its legs and run. As I write, history looks to be repeating itself as yet another corporation seems to be committing suicide by donating to HSUS.

For the second time in as many weeks, shining the spotlight of publicity on who gives money to HSUS has resulted in a change in policy by supporters of this anti-animal agriculture group. Again, the rapid dissemination of information via the social media networks has played a role.


These small victories are not going to put HSUS out of business, but it has shown how HSUS can be hurt and how individuals can have an imnpact. I truly hope this becomes a trend and that people, both inside and outside of agriculture, will take an interest in who supports radical activist groups. I cannot say it enough: stay informed and get involved. You can make a difference. Read More



In case you haven’t heard, February was a pretty good month for American agriculture and quite embarrassing for Wayne Pacelle and the Humane Society of the United States. The HSUS lost two corporate sponsors because individual farmers, ranchers, pet owners, outdoorsmen and others informed Pilot and Casella Wines that they would not support companies who support animal rights groups that inaccurately portray, and try to eliminate animal agriculture. As much as HSUS has tried to counter this movement by falsely claiming the Center for Consumer Freedom is responsible for starting this movement, it’s been a failure. They claim to have 11 million members, yet they couldn’t even get a handful of them to publicly support HSUS on Facebook. Many of those leaving pro-HSUS comments online have actually been HSUS employees who are paid to do it.

If you didn’t believe in the power of grassroots efforts before, you certainly should now.