A Reykjavík based camper van rental company, KúKú Campers, has come under intense criticism after a group of American travellers stole and killed a lamb in East Iceland. The website of the company seemed to suggest to its customers that people were free to live off the land, claiming that according to law people were free to eat anything they found on public lands. American travellers killed the lamb for food.
The company offers its customers various advice on how to behave and what to do in Iceland. Some of the advice seems to encourage poaching, illegal fishing – or even sheep rustling:
As a measure to keep travelers alive in Iceland, there is a law here that allows anyone to eat anything of any government land property. You can´t take anything with you but you can eat as you want. We´ve challenged many of our customers to live off nature for a week. … We know you are fed up with the urban life and want a genuinely natural experience. No problem, rent our KúKú van or tent along with a BBQ set and you can avoid super market shopping for as long as you want.
Taken at face value this advice could be interpreted as encouragement to hunt for food.
Not the first camper-controversy
This is not the first time KúKú Campers stumbles into controversy over this advice. in 2016 the company became the center of intense criticism when some claimed its customers had been seen fishing without a permit in salmon fishing rivers.
Read more: Camper rental stumbles into controversy with tongue-in-cheek instructions to travellers
The company dismissed the criticism, arguing the advice was clearly tongue in cheek. A closer look at the different pages which offer travel advice shows this is the case.
When customers click on the “Golf Map” they get this message: “There is no Golf map, Golf is for losers who can't get results in real sports!“ Needless to say, Golf is a real sport, practiced by all kinds of people, and there are, in fact, plenty of excellent golf courses in Iceland!
Sheep rustlers were not driving KúKú Campers
Despite the fact that the US travellers who stole and killed the lamb had not rented their RVs from the company in question, many locals zeroed in on the tongue in cheek instructions on the company's website, seeing in them a potential source of confusion which might lead foreign visitors to engage in sheep rustling.
In the face of the criticism the company changed the advice it gives to its customers to make absolutely sure nobody could misinterpret it as an encouragement to engage in immoral and illegal activities.
The manager of Kúkú Campers told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he had never heard of anyone having misunderstood the instructions, saying it was obvious the instructions were tongue in cheek. He also pointed out the US travellers who killed the lamb had not been customers of the company.
Despite this the company changed its website, clarifying that the legal code they referred to, which allows anyone to eat anything of any goverment land property only refers to berries, mushrooms, mosses, dulse and herbs as well as shellfish.
A Reykjavík based camper van rental company, KúKú Campers, has come under intense criticism after a group of American travellers stole and killed a lamb in East Iceland. The website of the company seemed to suggest to its customers that people were free to live off the land, claiming that according to law people were free to eat anything they found on public lands. American travellers killed the lamb for food.
The company offers its customers various advice on how to behave and what to do in Iceland. Some of the advice seems to encourage poaching, illegal fishing – or even sheep rustling:
As a measure to keep travelers alive in Iceland, there is a law here that allows anyone to eat anything of any government land property. You can´t take anything with you but you can eat as you want. We´ve challenged many of our customers to live off nature for a week. … We know you are fed up with the urban life and want a genuinely natural experience. No problem, rent our KúKú van or tent along with a BBQ set and you can avoid super market shopping for as long as you want.
Taken at face value this advice could be interpreted as encouragement to hunt for food.
Not the first camper-controversy
This is not the first time KúKú Campers stumbles into controversy over this advice. in 2016 the company became the center of intense criticism when some claimed its customers had been seen fishing without a permit in salmon fishing rivers.
Read more: Camper rental stumbles into controversy with tongue-in-cheek instructions to travellers
The company dismissed the criticism, arguing the advice was clearly tongue in cheek. A closer look at the different pages which offer travel advice shows this is the case.
When customers click on the “Golf Map” they get this message: “There is no Golf map, Golf is for losers who can't get results in real sports!“ Needless to say, Golf is a real sport, practiced by all kinds of people, and there are, in fact, plenty of excellent golf courses in Iceland!
Sheep rustlers were not driving KúKú Campers
Despite the fact that the US travellers who stole and killed the lamb had not rented their RVs from the company in question, many locals zeroed in on the tongue in cheek instructions on the company's website, seeing in them a potential source of confusion which might lead foreign visitors to engage in sheep rustling.
In the face of the criticism the company changed the advice it gives to its customers to make absolutely sure nobody could misinterpret it as an encouragement to engage in immoral and illegal activities.
The manager of Kúkú Campers told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he had never heard of anyone having misunderstood the instructions, saying it was obvious the instructions were tongue in cheek. He also pointed out the US travellers who killed the lamb had not been customers of the company.
Despite this the company changed its website, clarifying that the legal code they referred to, which allows anyone to eat anything of any goverment land property only refers to berries, mushrooms, mosses, dulse and herbs as well as shellfish.
