Vegans in Australia have lashed out at Bunnings, after the hardware store announced it planned to hold a sausage sizzle to raise money for victims of the country's bushfires.
The fundraising day is scheduled to be held on November 22 at all Bunnings stores across Australia. Despite the company's best intentions, however, the event has been heavily criticised by the vegan community.
"Why oh why are people selling sausages to raise money when it's known that meat is a contributing factor to climate change? Which is a contributing factor to these fires!" one person posted, in the Facebook group Vegan Gals Australia.
The post was later deleted, but not before gaining widespread attention online.
Some people agreed with the sentiment, writing comments such as, "They can shove their sausage where the sun don't shine."
Another wrote: "Just throw some thoughts and prayers and ignore the actual problem".
There was also a sharp backlash.
"Right now, helping those fighting the fires is more dire than fighting the meat industry for climate change," wrote one person.
"Sorry what? There is nothing they can do about the sausages already produced, but they can sell them to raise funds for firefighters who are actually facing the real fires happening right now," another person added.
According to the Daily Mail, the original poster eventually deleted the post "because too many people were being rude".
The fires in Australia have killed four people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of houses. Despite the immense damage caused so far, firefighters have warned the worst is yet to come, with summer approaching.
Kerry Chikarovski, the former leader of New South Wales' Liberal Party, said the comments missed the point.
"They're community-based sausage sizzles, they happen every week," she told 7 News.
All they're doing is extending that, and saying this time we're going to give all the money to victims, which is a great thing.
"Every corporate in the country should be thinking about how they can contribute to helping people rebuild their lives."
A spokesperson for Bunnings told 7 News that all funds raised would to the not-for-profit GIVIT, which works to help communities affected by disasters.
