Anyone thirsty?

kinyonga said:
Now you won't be thirsty for the wine...
So sad...
https://mg.co.za/article/1998-02-20-chameleons-mulched-into-wine/
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🤯​

I didn't find anything on Snopes, but a few somethings about the above story suggest a possible false flag... (not to mention sounding like an urban myth).
The organisers of a campaign to save chameleons in the Western Cape say they are being decimated by mechanical harvesters which have been imported from France and Italy.
https://mg.co.za/article/1998-02-20-chameleons-mulched-into-wine/
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Later it says...
Stellenbosch Farmers Winery’s Andr Steyn says his organisation does not use mechanical harvesters, though it may have to do so in the future. “There’s no evidence I can find of any chameleons being found in harvesters,” he says, “but if it is so, we would be alarmed because we wouldn’t want them in our wine crushers.
Ibid.
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And apparently, a study was done in the African Journal of Herpetology....
The use of automated grape harvesters in the Cape Wine Growing region has resulted in controversy regarding their effect on the chameleon Bradypodion pumilum. We investigated densities of B. pumilum during harvesting at a vineyard near Stellenbosch, South Africa. During dedicated surveys, no chameleons were found in vines, while vegetation surrounding the vines contained densities as high as 1.3 chameleons per 100 m of survey. In addition, the force required to remove ripe grapes was investigated and found to be substantially lower than that required to dislodge a chameleon. We conclude that the effect of automated grape harvesting on chameleons is negligible.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21564574.2007.9635554
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Then there's the question of this statement:
Phillip Kubukeli, president of the Western Cape Traditional Doctors, Herbalists and Spiritual Healers’ Association, says wine contaminated by chameleons is poisonous to humans.
https://mg.co.za/article/1998-02-20-chameleons-mulched-into-wine/
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I take it this person is referring to carried bacteria/parasites. Aside from that, eating a chameleon is not poisonous. Cooking kills most—if not all—and fermentation and/or pasteurization (not all wines, but many) would likely kill the rest.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Can+humans+eat+chameleons?

ICBW, but I'm thinking it's more about grape harvesters being replaced by automation than about endangered chameleons winding up in wine bottles.
 
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