Stars help animal charity win grant with social media storm
Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton created a social media storm to help a British animal conservation charity win a $775,000 grant to stop rhino poaching in Africa.
The 25 celebrities, including Blink 182's Mark Hoppus and British comedian Bill Bailey, helped spread the plight of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to their combined 20 million Twitter.com followers, enabling the organization to bag the Google Global Impact Award as 'fan favourite' after gaining the most public votes.
Bosses at the ZSL will use the grant to install a network of
next-generation cameras across Tsavo National Park in Kenya to help
stop gangs of armed-poachers killing thousands of endangered rhinos
every year.
ZSL’s director of fundraising, James Wren, says, “It’s fantastic to
have won this important Google grant, and we couldn’t have done it
without the overwhelming support from our VIP friends and the
public. These life-saving cameras will help stop the slaughter of
rhinos, elephants, and more, before it’s too late.”