The family of late Australian zookeeper and famous television personality Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin is continuing his legacy as they rescue more than 90,000 animals affected by the wildfires ravaging parts of Australia.
Robert Irwin, Steve’s son, posted a photo of Ollie, an orphaned platypus at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, on his Instagram account. According to him, Ollie was there patient number 90,000.
“We are taking what we can, we are doing emergency fundraising and building more facilities right now,” Terri Irwin, wife of Steve and owner of Australia Zoo, said in a recent interview with Fox & Friends. “We’re at capacity right now for koalas, we’re over capacity for fruit bats and we are seeing a number of other animals.”
An estimate of 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles had been affected by the bushfires in New South Wales alone since September, according to University of Sydney ecology professor Chris Dickman. With the fires still ongoing, he predicts that the number will even be bigger than that in the next few days.
Fox News reported that more than 135 fires are still burning across NSW. 25 people died and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed.
21-year old Bindi Irwin, daughter of Steve, said they are doing everything to save and treat as much animals they can.
“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,” she wrote on Instagram.
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