Brevard Zoo Sends $1,000 Each to Five Deserving Australian Wildlife Organizations

By  //  January 17, 2020

donations come from the Zoo’s Wildlife Emergency Fund

Brevard Zoo is sending $1,000 each to five conservation organizations responding to the bushfire crisis that has devastated Australia. (Brevard Zoo image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Brevard Zoo is sending $1,000 each to five conservation organizations responding to the bushfire crisis that has devastated Australia.

The donations come from the Zoo’s Wildlife Emergency Fund (WEF), a program focused on providing emergency support to address urgent threats to wildlife.

The beneficiaries include Zoos Victoria, a conglomerate that oversees three zoological facilities and created a Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund to provide emergency veterinary care and scientific intervention; Australia Zoo, which is adding a new ward to its wildlife hospital to take in more patients; One Tree Planted, which will plant 1,000 trees in Australia on behalf of the Zoo to counter the loss of natural habitat; WIRES, a wildlife rescue offering national support to groups working with affected wildlife; and Zoo and Aquarium Association, the accrediting body for Australian animal care facilities, which is working to assess the crisis’s impact on wildlife and place native animals in rehabilitation facilities.

“The impact that these fires have had on Australian wildlife is almost unimaginable,” said Jody Palmer, the Zoo’s director of conservation programs.

“We’re privileged to be able to help, and we look forward to the end of this crisis.”

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The WEF is made possible through the sale of collectible buttons, which are created by staff and volunteers and sold throughout the Zoo.

Over 13,000 buttons were sold in 2019—an increase of more than 2,500 from the previous year.

More information about the WEF can be found HERE