Bunnings boss apologises to local animal sanctuary after vegan sausage row

Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider wrote on Thursday to Kate Luke, the co-founder of the Little Oak Sanctuary between Canberra and Braidwood, who revealed she could not go ahead with two planned fundraising sausage sizzles at Bunnings in Fyshwick because a staff member had insisted the sanctuary offer beef sausages and not just vegan sausages.

That was even though Ms Luke had said in her application form months ago they would only be serving vegan sausages, later explaining they couldn't morally provide beef sausages, literally serving up the animals they were trying to save.

Bunnings public relations on Wednesday blamed a "slight miscommunication" for the bunfight, but Mr Schneider was more apologetic in his letter.

"I am writing to personally apologise for the experience you had this week with our Fyshwick store," he wrote in the letter.

"Our teams liaise with hundreds of wonderful community groups every week and we're really proud of the strong relationships we've formed with so many of them.

"However, we don't always get it right. 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 that advice.

"We're always looking for opportunities to improve and this situation opens up a coaching opportunity for the team involved, so thank you for bringing it to our attention."

Mr Schneider also gave the sanctuary a $500 gift card to go towards its winter fundraising appeal and said the June and August dates for the barbecues would still be honoured by Bunnings.

Ms Luke said she appreciated the letter.

"We're really grateful for their thoughtful and considered apology," she said.

Ms Luke said she was considering going ahead with the fundraising barbecues at another Bunnings store or another venue, with the final location to be decided.

She had written to Bunnings this week, asking them to clarify their policy for sausage sizzles, particularly when the application form had stated: "Please discuss with your store if you would like to sell sausages that cater to specific dietary, lifestyle and religious preferences, such as vegetarian, vegan, organic, Kosher or Halal."

Ms Luke said she had been clear the sanctuary only wanted to sell vegan sausages.

The Little Oak Sanctuary is now caring for more than 300 rescued farm animals including sheep, cattle, horses, pigs and roosters.

It was where Canberra's famous Chris the sheep spent his final years until he died in 2019.

The link to donate to the Little Oak Sanctuary Winter Appeal is here.