Help us feed & look after 253 animals -CV19 has us
Donation protected
Please help us feed our animals, keep our staff & pay our electricity bill
Irukandji Shark & Ray Encounters has been closed for 3 weeks as we move into our new
facility. We spent 5 years planning and all our money building it. Now with all our animals
safely moved and the last finishing touches being completed we were due to open in 5 days
on the 1st of April. That will no longer happen; all of our plans are cancelled, and we are in
survival mode.
We have over 250 animals, many are endangered or vulnerable species, and all of them are
our highest priority. We need help to keep them alive and healthy during this unimaginable
pandemic.
• School tours have cancelled right into the future. An income we need to survive on to
get us through the winter
• Overseas tourists have also been cancelled, another income that would normally get
us through the winter
• We cannot hold our grand opening anymore and invite everybody who helped
• It has just been discovered we will not be able to open at all given we are a “nonessential
service” If we can’t open we will have no income to look after our animals
• The Easter Holidays are cancelled…. This means we have no income and no savings
as we just spent every last cent building this amazing new aquarium that nobody can
visit. We were relying on the holidays and our grand opening to get us some much needed
income for the winter.
• On a normal winter day we run at a loss, without funds from this this holiday period
there is little to no chance of us surviving the winter.
• Our animals still need food, water, vet care, clean homes and most importantly a huge
amount of electricity to survive
• It is so important to us to keep our staff working and looking after the animals even
while we are closed. We know this is a very difficult request in the current climate
when so many others are losing their jobs. Our staff are highly trained in animal care
and extremely valuable to the health and well-being of our animals. Our staff go
above and beyond for us and we will fight for them the same way they fight for us.
• As a small business we don’t have huge companies backing us and have done
everything until now without any government funding at all. It has taken us many,
many years to get to this stage and now we stand to lose it all before we even open the
new location.
• During these years we have spent countless hours and alot of money rescuing
wildlife, driving turtles to Sydney, cleaning beaches, cleaning roads and mangroves,
educating the community, supporting the ocean, rehabilitating and releasing sea
snakes and rays, supporting other local conservation organisations and generally
never giving up on the ocean. Sea Shelter our non-profit side has had to postpone all
its education programs, meetings and public events. Even the famous Fingal Forage in
June is very much up in the air.
• Proudly Sea Shelter (and all our volunteers) remain committed to the rescues and
preserving the ocean. The normally rescued wildlife are also going to suffer a little
sadly as we rely on the public (you) have many less eyes out there watching over
them as they need help and contacting us.
• Even as we ask for this help it feels so unfair as so many businesses need help right
now and so many staff have been let go. However we can’t survive without the help,
we can’t come back, get our staff back and open our doors later, our overheads
without operating are huge, we cannot stop looking after our animals we cannot turn
the power off while we are shut, we cannot stop heating and cooling and filtering the
water.
We really need help now, our new aquarium needs to make it, we have worked too hard for
to many years to lose everything now, we need to be able to open one day and continue our
important conservation work for the future of our oceans. We know this is a very tough time
to be asking for help as many, many people are in the same boat as us and everybody is
losing their jobs left right and centre. Many who normally could afford to help are now
unemployed or concerned about the future. Please help us survive if you can spare a little bit,
we cannot just close our doors and come back later- everything must continue, guests or no
guests. Below we have put together a list of our essential (only) costs
ANIMALS:
• Electricity to run all the pumps, heating, cooling and life support systems $1259 per
week
• Fish Prawns & Squid to feed the larger animals is in average $1500 per week
• Nori, brine shrimp, blood worms & is $40 per week
• Filtration maintenance and saltwater collection approximately 20hrs a week costing
around $500 a week
• Vitamins and supplements are $113 per week or $2.64 a tablet given to the animals 2
x per week
Critically Endangered species > Misty and Shadow
• Eat approximately 720 grams each per week of seafood prawns, fish and squid
• Vitamins and supplements $9 a week for each one
• Staff need to attend to them daily as much as possible
Endangered > Sahara & Kalahari
• 800g a day approximately $20 a day
• Vitamins $12 a week
• Staff Care 3 hrs a day
Vulnerable Animals >
Tawny Nurse Sharks x 5
• 2.5kg a day of food approximately $60 dollars a day
• Vitamins $15 a week
Staff Care 5 hours a day
Leopard Whip Rays x 3
1.1kg a day $32 approximately
Vitamins $15 a week
Staff Care 3 Hours a Day
The rest of the species:
Eagle rays, blue spotted mask rays, Port Jackson Sharks, brown banded bamboo sharks, sea
horses, various fish species, invertebrates,
6 kg a day $156 Dollars
Vitamins $26 a week
Staff Care 7 Hours a day
Food Prep 2.5 hours per day for the following day
Filter/animals habitat cleaning 4 hours per day
The total minimum costs around $3412 a week or $40,944 for 3 months just for the bare
basics to purchase the fish food, Vitamins and electricity for over 253 animals; each animal is
on average $13.48 per day to look after. This does not include insurance, fuel for the truck,
any running costs of the business or the varying price of looking after our rescues
Rescue Animals Care
Tests/bloodwork Cost between $100-800
Water Treatment $10
Water Collection $80
Food between $0 to $80 to $200 Dollars a week
This is not included in the total- just added it as we hope to be able to continue to help those
in need
STAFF:
Wonderful Wonderful News!!! Thanks to the new JOB KEEPERS initiative announced by the government yesterday Irukandji has just received a huge huge helping hand!!! Below is what it was going to cost us in Salary for 6 months
{{Based on last year’s staff wages and super for the same period (please note wages have gone
up since then)
To keep on 7 staff on permanent part time is $6127 per week $73529 for 3 months
To keep 3 staff on casual a couple days per week is for 3 months $8566
Total to keep all staff at these hours is $6841 Per week
Total needed would be $82095 for 3 months}}
NOW- THANKS TO JOB KEEPERS:
We only need the following to cover staff wages:
$7792 for three months
$15,584 for 6 months!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Below was the original TOTAL needs of this fundraiser:
{{These costs are a portion of the normal overheads and operating costs, only what is essential
for our animals’ welfare, health and happiness has been included.
If you add it together this is what is desperately needed to get us through this scary time:
$1,464 for one day, or
$10,253 for one week, or
$123,039 for 3 months, or
(please let this finish sooner) $246,078 for 6 months!}}
NOW- THANKS TO JOB KEEPERS the new costs are:
$580 for one day, or
$4,061 for one week, or
$48,736 for 3 months, or
$97,472 for 6 months
We still have a long way to go but it is such a relief to have more then half of our costs covered!
Many people and animals may not survive the magnitude of the economic and social disaster
that is Coronavirus-19, we whole heartedly thank those who are reaching out to help us while living your own version of the disaster, it is extremely humbling to see.
Thank you so much for helping support Irukandji Shark & Ray Encounters through it
Irukandji Shark & Ray Encounters has been closed for 3 weeks as we move into our new
facility. We spent 5 years planning and all our money building it. Now with all our animals
safely moved and the last finishing touches being completed we were due to open in 5 days
on the 1st of April. That will no longer happen; all of our plans are cancelled, and we are in
survival mode.
We have over 250 animals, many are endangered or vulnerable species, and all of them are
our highest priority. We need help to keep them alive and healthy during this unimaginable
pandemic.
• School tours have cancelled right into the future. An income we need to survive on to
get us through the winter
• Overseas tourists have also been cancelled, another income that would normally get
us through the winter
• We cannot hold our grand opening anymore and invite everybody who helped
• It has just been discovered we will not be able to open at all given we are a “nonessential
service” If we can’t open we will have no income to look after our animals
• The Easter Holidays are cancelled…. This means we have no income and no savings
as we just spent every last cent building this amazing new aquarium that nobody can
visit. We were relying on the holidays and our grand opening to get us some much needed
income for the winter.
• On a normal winter day we run at a loss, without funds from this this holiday period
there is little to no chance of us surviving the winter.
• Our animals still need food, water, vet care, clean homes and most importantly a huge
amount of electricity to survive
• It is so important to us to keep our staff working and looking after the animals even
while we are closed. We know this is a very difficult request in the current climate
when so many others are losing their jobs. Our staff are highly trained in animal care
and extremely valuable to the health and well-being of our animals. Our staff go
above and beyond for us and we will fight for them the same way they fight for us.
• As a small business we don’t have huge companies backing us and have done
everything until now without any government funding at all. It has taken us many,
many years to get to this stage and now we stand to lose it all before we even open the
new location.
• During these years we have spent countless hours and alot of money rescuing
wildlife, driving turtles to Sydney, cleaning beaches, cleaning roads and mangroves,
educating the community, supporting the ocean, rehabilitating and releasing sea
snakes and rays, supporting other local conservation organisations and generally
never giving up on the ocean. Sea Shelter our non-profit side has had to postpone all
its education programs, meetings and public events. Even the famous Fingal Forage in
June is very much up in the air.
• Proudly Sea Shelter (and all our volunteers) remain committed to the rescues and
preserving the ocean. The normally rescued wildlife are also going to suffer a little
sadly as we rely on the public (you) have many less eyes out there watching over
them as they need help and contacting us.
• Even as we ask for this help it feels so unfair as so many businesses need help right
now and so many staff have been let go. However we can’t survive without the help,
we can’t come back, get our staff back and open our doors later, our overheads
without operating are huge, we cannot stop looking after our animals we cannot turn
the power off while we are shut, we cannot stop heating and cooling and filtering the
water.
We really need help now, our new aquarium needs to make it, we have worked too hard for
to many years to lose everything now, we need to be able to open one day and continue our
important conservation work for the future of our oceans. We know this is a very tough time
to be asking for help as many, many people are in the same boat as us and everybody is
losing their jobs left right and centre. Many who normally could afford to help are now
unemployed or concerned about the future. Please help us survive if you can spare a little bit,
we cannot just close our doors and come back later- everything must continue, guests or no
guests. Below we have put together a list of our essential (only) costs
ANIMALS:
• Electricity to run all the pumps, heating, cooling and life support systems $1259 per
week
• Fish Prawns & Squid to feed the larger animals is in average $1500 per week
• Nori, brine shrimp, blood worms & is $40 per week
• Filtration maintenance and saltwater collection approximately 20hrs a week costing
around $500 a week
• Vitamins and supplements are $113 per week or $2.64 a tablet given to the animals 2
x per week
Critically Endangered species > Misty and Shadow
• Eat approximately 720 grams each per week of seafood prawns, fish and squid
• Vitamins and supplements $9 a week for each one
• Staff need to attend to them daily as much as possible
Endangered > Sahara & Kalahari
• 800g a day approximately $20 a day
• Vitamins $12 a week
• Staff Care 3 hrs a day
Vulnerable Animals >
Tawny Nurse Sharks x 5
• 2.5kg a day of food approximately $60 dollars a day
• Vitamins $15 a week
Staff Care 5 hours a day
Leopard Whip Rays x 3
1.1kg a day $32 approximately
Vitamins $15 a week
Staff Care 3 Hours a Day
The rest of the species:
Eagle rays, blue spotted mask rays, Port Jackson Sharks, brown banded bamboo sharks, sea
horses, various fish species, invertebrates,
6 kg a day $156 Dollars
Vitamins $26 a week
Staff Care 7 Hours a day
Food Prep 2.5 hours per day for the following day
Filter/animals habitat cleaning 4 hours per day
The total minimum costs around $3412 a week or $40,944 for 3 months just for the bare
basics to purchase the fish food, Vitamins and electricity for over 253 animals; each animal is
on average $13.48 per day to look after. This does not include insurance, fuel for the truck,
any running costs of the business or the varying price of looking after our rescues
Rescue Animals Care
Tests/bloodwork Cost between $100-800
Water Treatment $10
Water Collection $80
Food between $0 to $80 to $200 Dollars a week
This is not included in the total- just added it as we hope to be able to continue to help those
in need
STAFF:
Wonderful Wonderful News!!! Thanks to the new JOB KEEPERS initiative announced by the government yesterday Irukandji has just received a huge huge helping hand!!! Below is what it was going to cost us in Salary for 6 months
{{Based on last year’s staff wages and super for the same period (please note wages have gone
up since then)
To keep on 7 staff on permanent part time is $6127 per week $73529 for 3 months
To keep 3 staff on casual a couple days per week is for 3 months $8566
Total to keep all staff at these hours is $6841 Per week
Total needed would be $82095 for 3 months}}
NOW- THANKS TO JOB KEEPERS:
We only need the following to cover staff wages:
$7792 for three months
$15,584 for 6 months!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Below was the original TOTAL needs of this fundraiser:
{{These costs are a portion of the normal overheads and operating costs, only what is essential
for our animals’ welfare, health and happiness has been included.
If you add it together this is what is desperately needed to get us through this scary time:
$1,464 for one day, or
$10,253 for one week, or
$123,039 for 3 months, or
(please let this finish sooner) $246,078 for 6 months!}}
NOW- THANKS TO JOB KEEPERS the new costs are:
$580 for one day, or
$4,061 for one week, or
$48,736 for 3 months, or
$97,472 for 6 months
We still have a long way to go but it is such a relief to have more then half of our costs covered!
Many people and animals may not survive the magnitude of the economic and social disaster
that is Coronavirus-19, we whole heartedly thank those who are reaching out to help us while living your own version of the disaster, it is extremely humbling to see.
Thank you so much for helping support Irukandji Shark & Ray Encounters through it
Organizer
Lia Pereira
Organizer
