The management of Menu Foods (it is a publicly traded company, so there is no one “owner”) is not in a position to guarantee that owners of affected pets will be fully reimbursed for veterinary expenses. They can’t manufacture money out of thin air, and if this incident pushes the company into bankruptcy (which it certainly could), a bankruptcy court — not executives or owners of the company — will determine who gets compensation and how much.
Menu Foods had 2006 net income of CAD 6.4 million, and 2005 net LOSS of CAD 55 million. The matter of determining which pets were sickened or died due to this food vs. other costs is very expensive and uncertain, and could result in expensive litigation. And there will no doubt be many pet owners trying to get compensation for vet visits and tests done as a precaution, even though no illness was found. It would be totally irresponsible of the company’s management to make blanket promises of reimbursement which they may not be able to deliver on, and which might induce pet owners to incur huge veterinary bills that they are unable to afford themselves, believing that it will be paid for by the company.
State of Oregon now saying at least 38 dead and another 60+ suspected.
Can you say insurance?
Can you say they shouldn’t have poisoned so many pets if they didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to pay the price, literally?
Can you say it’s not the dead pets’ fault that Menu Foods doesn’t make enough money to be able to pay for all these Vet bills?
Can you say they should go bankrupt and close down if they don’t do the right thing here? Nevermind, nobody has to say that... because if they don’t do the right thing here, people will stop buying their food anyway, so they will go bankrupt one way or the other.