Melbourne-based company Madman Anime Group and its parent company Funimation launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wildlife affected by the ongoing fires devastating Australia. The Anime Heroes for Aussie Wildlife– Bushfire Appeal campaign will donate 100% of all proceeds to Wildlife Victoria. The campaign has so far raised US$10,282 of its US$150,000 goal.
“Various fundraisers are doing a remarkable job in raising money for important causes such as wildlife rescue, assisting firefighters and human victims of the bushfire disaster, and many more. As a Victorian business, we thought we would select Wildlife Victoria, which was seeing less media coverage than some of the other charities and perhaps needed an extra helping paw,” Madman stated.
In addition to money donated, AnimeLab and Madman have pledged to match dollar-for-dollar, all funds raised up to $75,000. The company is joining with Aniplex, Wakanim and Manga UK to promote the campaign. Sword Art Online character designer Shingo Adachi also joined in and created the campaign’s koala mascot art.
The Australian bushfires have burned 40,000 sq miles of land, killed more than two dozen people, and affected wildlife estimates are huge. Federal environment minister Sussan Ley stated that 30% of the koala population along the coast of New South Wales has died. Ecologists at the University of Sydney have estimated millions of animals are dead in New South Whales with potentially half billion affected.
Source: Anime Heroes for Aussie Wildlife fundraiser, Australia Broadcasting Company (Kim Landers), CNN (Jessie Yeung), The New York Times (Mihir Zaveri, Emily S. Rueb)