Wallets open wide for Steve’s charity
News source: Sunshine Coast Daily, Friday 22 September 2006By Amy Remeikis
$1.3m raised worldwide in under 3 weeks
THE animals may have lost the best friend they’ll ever have, but those closest to the original Wildlife Warrior are determined his work will go on.
More than $1.3 million dollars has been donated to the Steve Irwin charity, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, in the two and a half weeks since the Crocodile Hunter’s death and 50,000 fans across the globe have signed up to follow in their hero’s footsteps.
But Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Executive Manager Michael Hornby said the support had come at a tragic price.
“It’s great that so many people have wanted to reach out this way, but we have to keep reminding ourselves what it has cost,” he said.
“In terms of balance, yes it is a lot of money, but we have lost Steve and how can you weigh that up?”
But Mr Hornby said the money would be used to carry the vision Steve started into the future, including the construction of the world’s largest wildlife hospital.
“Obviously the funds will go to our established and additional projects – the operation of the wildlife hospital alone costs $1.5 million a year.
“And we have our research and conservation projects as well, both here and internationally. We are also hoping to extend our Asian conservation projects.
“But I think the biggest thing, in the near future anyway, will be the construction of the world’s biggest wildlife hospital. We obviously had to put off construction for a little bit because of what happened, but we will continue with starting that very soon.”
Australia Zoo has donated four hectares for the 2001sqm hospital, which will be 20 times the size of the current establishment.
Steve originally established the Australian Wildlife Hospital as a tribute to his late mother Lyn and Mr Hornby said his entire staff were committed to ensuring both her and their late patron’s work went on.
Staff at ANZ branches across Queensland rallied together yesterday to show their support for the Irwin family by wearing khaki and making a donation to Wildlife Warriors.
The idea came from staff at the Beerwah branch, where the Irwins have been banking since the beginning.
The ANZ Community Fund was kick started with an initial donation of $10,000.
