After my blog was hacked I’ve been trying to remember all the information that was on it before to put together a summary. Here goes:
1. Why?
In January 2008 school holidays I saw a terrible picture of Devil Facial Tumour disease at the Devil Enclosure at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. It was just terrible and I decided to do something about it. So, with mum’s help, I did some research on the disease, what’s happening and how I could help. I then put that information into posters. I then used those posters to base my website pages on and sent this to Janice Kalyniuk at PerthWebs.com who put together the awareness site for me: Tassie Devil Cancer Awareness.
The site got loads of press coverage – which you can see at my press pages.
2. Next Steps
Currumbin invited me back to meet the devils in February and to meet Sarah Mulhall, the Tassie Devil Keeper. That was so cool! But a little scary as you can see from the pics on my press page – Mandu was a lot noisier than I thought he’d be!
3. Tasmania Trip
In April, mum, dad and I went to Tasmania for a week. We had a really busy time meeting with the University of Tasmania and Department of Primary Industries & Water staff as well as a really interesting meeting with research scientist Rodrigo who spent ages explaining tracking devices and all the wonderful work he and his team are involved with! I also meet with local sanctuary owners (Bonorong Wildlife Conservation Centre and Something Wild) – and met up with Nature Nic and his family which was heaps of fun!
4. Little Devils Day
Part of my fundraising ideas included holding a free dress day at school to raise awareness and funds. This happened on 30 May and Steve Smith was kind enough to come to the school and give presentations to all the kids about devils! We raised just over $200 for the Save the Tassie Devil Project! You can hold your own Little Devils Day at your school – download the form at my website.
5. Community Service Announcement
My next job was to put together a community service announcement for radio. This went out to a lot of community radio stations in Qld and Tasmania with quite a number of them picking it up. You can hear it here. tassie-ad
6. Cafe Press Store
Another fundraising idea was to open a Cafe Press Store. I designed the merchandise at the store. If you’re looking for gifts that give twice, head to the Tassie Devil Diner and choose from the large range there! 100% of the proceeds goes to saving the devils.
7. Totally Wild
In July Totally Wild did a segment on what I was doing to try and help raise awareness. I really thank them for taking the time to do that!
Total funds raised to date exceed $2,000! I’m hoping to get my new school – and the rest of the schools in our district – involved in Little Devils Day. I’m also working with my Guide Unit to try and raise awareness!
