The death of an owl at a South African Coca-Cola plant has reignited scrutiny over the brand’s environmental ethics.
We wonder what Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta would make of the latest damage one of their bottling plants in South Africa has done to their iconic global consumer brand.
Coke is now facing a possible boycott from animal lovers after an owl was killed because plant managers claim they couldn’t afford to stop production so owl rescuers could get in and capture the bird to relocate it.
That heartless attitude followed an incident in 2021 when Coca-Cola’s bottler at Hercules in Pretoria promised to pay for the rehabilitation of a spotted eagle owl rescued from the plant… and then failed to honour that commitment.
Embarrassingly for the mega brand, a local beverage company stepped in to pay.
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Owl rescue and rehabilitation experts paint a picture of Coca-Cola’s operations in South Africa as being wildlife unfriendly, despite the probability that owls in factories do free pest control for bottlers by keeping down rodent populations.
There are those, of course, who will argue that “it’s just a bird…” and that factories provide jobs and tax revenue, which benefits all people.
Animals, though, are part of the rich tapestry of our beautiful planet and we would all be the poorer without them.
You can’t measure that in monetary terms.
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