Wen Duoli, Ni Chujiao
He saved ten animal lives a day.
Day after day, he transforms an ordinary zoo into an animal sanatorium dedicated to rescuing injured wildlife.
In six years, the nursing home has rescued and adopted a total of 25,000 animals.
His name was Greg Irons, just over thirty, an ordinary young Australian man.
Scenic Tasmania
The animal sanatorium is located in Tasmania, Australia's only island state, which is located in the southernmost part of Australia and is known as the "End of the World".
In 2014, a parrot adopted by a nursing home celebrated its 100th birthday, and the Queen of England sent a special letter to celebrate the birthday.
Why would Greg do such a heartwarming thing? What is the story of the animals he adopted and rescued?
Curious "One" reporter travels to Tasmania to see Noah's Ark, a wild animal at the "end of the world."
The gate of the Bonorand Wildlife Sanatorium
The entrance to the Bonoran Wildlife Sanatorium is not conspicuous, and if you walk down this path, you can see a low fence gate, and visitors entering and leaving will consciously plug in the latch.
It was here that we met Greg for the first time.
That day, as soon as the two sides had finished greeting each other, he said, "There is a brown frog-mouthed eagle that has been separated from his parents because of the strong wind, and is now in a place where there are vicious dogs, and I am going to rescue it." ”
With that, he set off.
Here, rescue comes first.
Every year, more than 500,000 animals are injured in Tasmania, and fences, traffic, dogs, cats, and even garbage threaten their lives.
This is the brown frog mouth eagle, also known as the brown nighthawk.
Its tiger-headed appearance and nocturnal life habits are very similar to owls, but it is actually a fake. The frog-mouthed eagle is yellow-brown, has a large head, yellow eyes, and a mouth like a toad, hence the name.
It's not easy to find this little pity.
The frog-mouthed eagle is a camouflage expert who likes to rest motionless in the bushes, and at first glance looks like a piece of bark.
Greg called the girl who called the police for 5 times before finally finding it in hundreds of identical trees.
It's still a little baby that can't fly. Greg took a closer look at his surroundings and found no parents, so he took it back to the nursing home.
After bringing back the frog-mouthed eagle, Greg began feeding the various small animals in the nursing home to feel the cuteness that came over him.
After doing this, Greg sat down and accepted our interview with peace of mind.
While they were having a good time, he was called away by an urgent task.
A trickster hid the bottle in a pit, and he had to dig it out.
It's what does bad things!
This is a wombat and is a large herbivore that lives in Australia. Daily is to eat grass, dig holes, sell cuteness, hoard grain in the hole, if you do not dig the bottle out of its cave in time, it is likely to be swallowed or chewed by it.
So, the entire film crew, carrying long guns and short guns, watched Greg plan the pit for 20 minutes.
Finally, the bottle was dug up and the alarm was lifted.
But the rations he had stolen were gone, the little guy was very aggrieved, and Greg had to be appeased.
In addition to the frog-mouthed eagle that sought his mother and the wombat that stole bottles, the nursing home is home to a number of unique residents, some of which are endangered or endemic to Tasmania.
This ugly little creature is the famous Tasnian Little Devil.
The little devil, whose scientific name is Tasmanian Devil, cries bitterly, like a devil from hell, hence the name. How hard is it to hear? Imagine a donkey being enraged.
Greg said that 25 years ago, a disease called a facial tumor killed 90 percent of the little demons, and now there are only 5,000 to 10,000 little demons left in the world.
Tasmania quickly embarked on a project to save the little devils, artificially intervening in their reproductive process.
But little demons can't always be born, Greg has built a retirement center for them, and all the infertile little demons can come here to retire in peace.
This is the Eastern Marser shrew.
Don't look at it as a small one, but it has a fierce personality and a quick response. Their lives were not good, and due to disease, poisoning, hunting and invasive predators, the Eastern Possum was largely extinct, with only a small fraction of Tasmania still living.
Stray cats roaming the streets can threaten the survival of entire populations.
This furry little cute is called honey bag shrew, has a sticky personality, can be carried around, and is more suitable for pets than returning to nature.
Every day, nursing homes send out 15,000 text messages to find foster families for these small animals that are suitable for captivity.
This is the echidna, covered in thorns, living in Australia and the island of New Guinea, and is on the verge of extinction due to excessive habitat destruction and human hunting.
The needle mole is missing one leg and can no longer return to nature, and it will live permanently in a sanatorium.
Speaking of which, Greg has been particularly fond of animals since he was a child. At the age of 10, he picked up an injured owl, but it was a Saturday when the vet was closed and he couldn't find anyone to turn to.
This childhood regret was an important reason why he set up a 24-hour nursing home 6 years ago.
Determined to pursue an animal protection career, Greg dropped out of college to join the Bonoran Wildlife Sanatorium when he was 19 years old and was just a normal zoo.
He took over at the age of 25 and gradually converted the zoo into today's sanatorium.
The nursing home has 30 regular staff and 434 relief volunteers throughout Tasmania. Nursing homes receive 8,000 rescue calls each year, an average of 22 per day, and the highest number of calls are 65 a day.
The board is plastered with the names of donors
The nursing home has so many small animals to keep every day, what does it rely on to keep it running?
In addition to donations from well-wishers, the main source of income for nursing homes is ticket revenue, and the more tourists there are, the more well-funded they are.
Greg said: "About 100,000 visitors come every year, but we need more to do more for the animals. ”
Every creature rescued by Greg is one of the lucky ones, but there are too many wild animals with less luck.
For example, in the vast land of China, pangolins and grass finches are still being treated as Chinese food because of their delicious meat, and beavers and red pandas are still poached because of their precious fur...
In terms of making friends with wildlife, Greg and his nursing home went a long way.
Website of Bonoran Wildlife Sanatorium:
https://www.bonorong.com.au/
Tourism Tasmania Australia:
https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/
Some of the photos are from tourism authorities and networks in Tasmania, Australia