Irwin family saves 90K animals from raging Australian fires

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Steve Irwin would be proud.

Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late wildlife conservationist, recently announced that she and her family members have saved 90,000 animals from the bushfires that have flamed out of control in their homeland of Australia. Hundreds of blazes continue to rage, 25 people have been killed and more than 12 million acres have been burned. More than half a billion animals have died, ecologists say, including up to 30 percent of the koala population.

In an Instagram post, Irwin posed in front of a photo depicting her father with a crocodile and wrote, “With so many devastating fires within Australia, my heart breaks for the people and wildlife who have lost so much … My parents dedicated our Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to my beautiful grandmother. We will continue to honour her by being Wildlife Warriors and saving as many lives as we can.”

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Among the saved: Hundreds of gray-headed flying foxes and Ollie the orphaned platypus, who was dubbed “patient number 90,000.” A cute and squinty-eyed possum named Blossom — along with her two babies — were also rescued but, unfortunately, they did not survive due to their extensive injuries.

Daunting as it all seems, Irwin and her crew are nowhere close to stopping.

“To cope with so many animals being admitted to the hospital, in 2019 we opened a sea turtle rehabilitation centre, sea snake ward and are about to complete a new bird recovery area, but it’s still not enough to keep up,” reads a Wildlife Warriors Facebook post from Saturday.

Luckily, well-known and well-heeled people are pitching in to help. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban donated $500,000 to New South Wales Rural Fire Service, which has been contending with some of the most challenging conflagrations. In announcing the donation on Instagram, Urban wrote, ”Our family’s support, thoughts, and prayers are with everyone affected by the fires all over Australia.”

Russell Crowe, the Aussie movie star, missed last night’s Golden Globes because he was home with his family, working hard to keep everyone safe. Margot Robbie took to Instagram, asking her fanbase to donate to the cause. She made it clear that she is “terrible with technology” but still managed to ship money to organizations such as Wires Wildlife Rescue and the Australian Red Cross. And singer Pink also pledged a $500K donation “directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines.”

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is going so far as to give away the clothing off her back. The “Fleabag” star — who won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy at the awards show Sunday night — announced that she will auction off the glittering Ralph & Russo Couture suit she wore to the shindig, with all proceeds going toward tamping down the Australian wildfires. She plans to start the bidding at $65,800 ($50,000 GBP), though the look has a retail value of about $85,500 ($65,000 GBP).

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