The Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation (DWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2012. The foundation is based at the Dreamworld

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

on the Gold Coast,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. DWF primarily focuses on

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

. The DWF has launched several of project which primarily focuses on

Bilbies ''Macrotis'' is a genus of desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores known as bilbies or rabbit-bandicoots; Unabridged they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The ...

, Koalas, Tigers and

Tree Kangaroos Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. All tree-kangaroos a ...

along with other animals based at the Dreamworld Corroboree and Tiger Island.

History

Dreamworld had previously run the Dreamworld Tiger Fund from 1997 and had raised over A$1 million over 15 years. The fun relied on merchandise sales, tiger photos and donations from Dreamworld guests. The DWF was established in March 2012, collaborating with existing wildlife conservation groups to bring substantial financial support to the conservation movement on a global scale. Since its foundation, the DWF has launched several projects and has raised over A$2 million from merchandise sales, animal encounters and donations. Since its foundation, the DWF has become the world's largest tiger donor. In March 2021, Dreamworld's General Manager of Life Science, Al Mucci resigned from the DWF. He was replaced by Michelle Barnes

Organization

Partnership

Albano Mucci cradling a koala joey in his hands

The DWF has partnered with several other organisations to help contribute to their projects. The DWF is part of the WildCats Conservation Alliance which aims to help tigers and amur leopards. The DWF also partners with the Phoenix Fund,

Fauna & Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserva ...

, Tree Roo Rescue and Conservation Centre and the Save the Bilby Fund. The University of Queensland and the DWF also researches on the koala reproductive cycle and they have developed the world's first artificial breeding technology.

List of managers

Projects

Bilbies

The DWF along with the Save the Bilby fund help to raise money to spread awareness of the steady decline of the bilby population. The fund also helps contribute to education, research and action towards securing a long term conservation towards bilbies.

Koalas

The DWF launched a project, Koala Land, which focuses on collaborating to help save koalas and their habitats in

Southeast Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

. The project was created with Al Mucci, the General Manager of Life Science at Dreamworld. The DWF does research along with The University of Queensland on koala habitats. Dreamworld also does a wildlife presentation at the Dreamworld Corroboree where guests are informed about Australian animals and the endangered species.

Tigers

The DWF is part of the Wild Cats Conservation Alliance. The alliance helps save wild tigers and Amur leopards around the world. DWF’s parent company, Dreamworld, has a dedicated area to Tigers called Tiger Island. At the end of every Tiger Island Presentation, Dreamworld spreads awareness of issues with poaching of tigers and other animals.

Tree Kangaroos

The DWF along with the Tree Roo Rescue and Conservation Centre help rehabilitate orphaned and injured tree kangaroos for release back into the wild. They also help spread awareness of the tree kangaroo and they research into a disease, known as the blindness disease, which affects tree kangaroos.

Programs

The DWF runs several animal encounters at Dreamworld as an upcharge attraction for park guests. The encounter included: a 15 minutes Dingo Experience, Tiger Feed Experience and Koala Photos. The profits made by the encounters help contribute to the foundation.

Controversies

On 16 December 2018, more than a dozen protestors from the group "Justice for Captives" surrounded the entrance of the Dreamworld theme park. Several protesters had also climbed onto the roof of the entrance. The group had also intruded Sea World and

Australian Outback Spectacular The Australian Outback Spectacular is an Australiana dinner and show package featuring many Australian animals, songs and ''bush tucker''. The show is located between Warner Bros. Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World at Oxenford on the Gold ...

within two days. The protestors argued that animals should not be put pn display and exploited for photo opportunities and entertainment.

References

{{Dreamworld Dreamworld (Australia) Ardent Leisure International environmental organizations Nature conservation organisations based in Australia Ecology organizations Wildlife conservation organizations Environmental organizations established in 2012 Organizations established in 2012 Non-profit organisations based in Australia 2012 establishments in Australia