Kate Luke, Little Oak Sanctuary co-founder. Little Oak has held four fundraisers at Canberra Bunnings stores since 2014. Photo: Little Oak Sanctuary.
A local animal rescue organisation is hoping a sausage sizzle at Dickson Shops will help raise much-needed funds for the winter after they were snubbed by staff at Fyshwick Bunnings.
Little Oak Sanctuary, based in Manar near Bungendore, nurses sick and injured farm animals from across the region back to health and is almost entirely run by volunteers.
To help cover costs, founders James and Kate Luke have held four sausage sizzles outside Canberra Bunnings stores since the first in Gungahlin in 2014.
They had one altercation in Fyshwick in 2016 when a Bunnings staff member demanded they sell a meat option alongside their vegan sausages, but Bunnings Australia later apologised and reiterated vegan sausages were allowed, so long as the store was briefed first.
However, ahead of two more sausage sizzles outside Fyshwick Bunnings this year, one on 23 June and another on 10 August, Kate received a phone call from a staff member, again demanding they provide meat sausages.
“We are not going to sell the bodies of the animals we are trying to save. Not now. Not ever,” Little Oak Sanctuary responded via a post on its Facebook page.
“We are devastated Bunnings has made this decision, not just for our organisation but also for other community groups who are choosing to take genuine action for animals and the climate.”
Bunnings Australia promptly apologised for what it described as a “slight miscommunication”, and managing director Mike Schneider wrote a personal letter to Kate.
“Asking you to cook and supply a meat option along with vegan sausages was not the right thing to do and not in keeping with our guidelines and I’m sorry our team provided you with this advice,” Mr Schneider wrote.
The letter also came with a $500 gift card “to assist with your fundraising efforts”.
Kate says the response from Bunnings has been “great”, and while they’re happy to return to the Gungahlin and Belconnen stores in future, they’ve washed their hands of Fyshwick.
The sanctuary will host a fundraising bake sale and sausage sizzle at the Dickson Shops this Sunday, 23 June, from 11 am.
While it may not reach the thousands of a Bunnings event, Kate says “every little bit counts” towards the supply of hay and animal feed.
She hopes the sale will raise at least $1000. The sanctuary typically spends about $20,000 every winter.
Little Oak Sanctuary has more than 330 farm animals in its care. Photo: Kate Luke.
“We’ve got over 330 animals in care at the moment, and a lot of them are quite elderly now and require higher levels of care from us and the vets,” she says.
“Winter, being cold, obviously comes with higher needs.”
In case you’re wondering about those vegan sausages, Kate says they’ve had diehard carnivores attend their previous fundraisers at Dickson Shops and initially spurn the vegan sausages.
“But we’ve convinced them to try one, and then they’ve come back for a second, so they’re actually really tasty sausages.”
Little Oak Sanctuary is planning another fundraiser at Gungahlin Bunnings in August.
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