Jed Neill
A RESCUE effort to save a trapped kitten is being thwarted by heartless vineyard owners, claim animal rights activists.
The huge Cadiz bodega Barbadillo is not allowing local residents to save the cat that has been trapped for up to two weeks in a drainage pipe six metres high, they claim.
It has left residents devasted as the bosses have allegedly not allowed anyone to drill into the pipe and have rejected help from a local plumber.
Resident Maria Penya, who is currently at the scene, told the Olive Press she has heard the kitten wailing for ‘well over a week’.
‘I can hear its cries. It’s heart-breaking,’ Maria said.
According to animal rights group, Brigada Animalista Rescate, both the police and the fire service were called but no one has managed to save the cat.
They say it would involve drilling into the pipe which would cause financial side-effects for the famous vineyard.
Members of the group have now slammed the vineyard owners for their ‘cruelty’ and have now even called for a boycott of the vineyard’s wine.
Resident Alessandro Di Matteo said: “What kind of a winery is that? From this moment I do not buy any product from that winery again.”
The award-winning bodega in Sanlucar de Barrameda is one of Andalucia’s best known white wines.
It produces a range of cherries and more traditional drinking whites.
As we went to press the vineyard was closed and unable to comment.
