Want Australia's marine-life to be here tomorrow? We do too, and with your help we'll educate school kids about the little-known orca in Australian waters. If kids like us care about these animals, we know others will too.  Please support our fundraiser - Jonah, Felix and Jazeps.

To support this valuable work, please click an incentive to the right of this page, where you can purchase or donate now. 

Three Young Change-Makers

There's nothing worse than realising something you LOVE might not be there tomorrow.

In 2019, while researching a school project, Jonah realised there was little known about the orca in Australian waters AND that they were listed as Data Deficient for conservation purposes. 

Instead of dwelling on what wasn't being done to care for the orca in Australia's waters, Jonah decided we needed to know more to protect their future. He turned a deficit into action, and The Wild Orca project was borne.

Joined by two friends, Jonah, Felix and Jazeps (aged 10 and 11 years old) raised nearly $500 for Project Orca (Curtin University, Western Australia) by selling T-shirts at an Adelaide market-stall. 

The success of their stall led the three to share their story with more kids (see Orca Are Awesome below) who realised they could take action too. 

Now, Jonah, Felix and Jazeps are fundraising again; for a road-trip to educate more children about the orca in Australian waters. 

With such chaos in the world at the moment, and many issues seeming so BIG, these resilient kids have stayed focused on doing something to ensure our marine-life has a healthy future. The best thing is, you can do something too by supporting this fundraiser. 

All spending of funds will be regularly posted on The Wild Orca Facebook page throughout the road-trip - so you can see what’s happening with your dollars. Any funds raised in excess of the target amount will be donated, in full, to Project Orca's ongoing research.

By supporting this fundraiser you’re taking action too - to purchase or donate please click any incentive to the right of this page now.

To find out how your support is going to help these three pro-active kids continue their work, please keep reading below.

The Wild Orca Educational Road Trip 2021

Jonah, Felix and Jazeps, along with parents, will be undertaking an orca educational road trip from Adelaide to Perth in 2021. Along the way, the children will see orcas in the wild at Bremer Bay, do 6-8 class presentations, to remote and regional primary schools en-route, and culminate in meeting and working with Project Orca researchers at Curtin University in Perth. 

This undertaking will be summerised in a video, curated from photos and footage taken on the trip and shared with all funding participants.

Sharing this video is a thank-you, to everyone who has done something to help educate the future generations about our beautiful marine creatures. 

Why does orca education matter? Please read below.

Why Orca?

Project Orca says little is known about these important apex predators in Australia.

• orca are listed as 'Data Deficient'
• orca have no conservation listing assigned to them as a species
• this prevents them from receiving any conservation measures they may urgently need.
• over fishing, captivity and pollution are known to greatly impact orca worldwide

Project Orca researcher, Bec Wellard, told the three ocean heroes;

'It's important we understand the orca population in Australian waters, because we look after what we understand'.

She also told them their actions would make a huge difference for the future of orca in Australia.

Orca Are Awesome

After a class presentation about their initial fundraiser, Jonah, Felix and Jazeps were thrilled when their peers broke into spontaneous applause. The teacher said the passionate reaction gave her goose bumps - it was clear, the classmates had heard and supported their message - orca are AWESOME

Following on from the success of their market-stall, further opportunities came knocking for Jonah, Felix and Jazeps.

• Project Orca bestowed the honour of naming an orca in the Killer Whales of the Bremer Sub-Basin Photo ID Catalogue to their class
• the Adelaide Advertiser published a story about their amazing journey as young change-makers 

Their actions turned into something bigger, and now they want more kids to realise they can do something for Australia's environment too.

 Most of all though, they want kids to understand that Australia has orca in its waters, and they are AWESOME.

Taking Action Matters 

If you have read this far, we know you are someone who:

• takes action
• cares about Australia's marine environment
• knows we need to educate the future generation to care for it

By purchasing an incentive, or giving a donation, you're sharing in the journey of these three amazing ocean heroes, so thank-you. THANK-YOU for supporting these kids who walk their talk, thank-you for trusting them to do the work, thank-you for rewarding their courage and conviction to take action and THANK YOU for hearing their voices, and acknowledging they ARE creating change. THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU. 

To take part in this important work, please click an incentive item to the right, and purchase now. If you don't want an item but would like to donate, please select any incentive item and select ‘contribute’ at the bottom of its page. 

Why YOUR Funding Support Matters

Your financial support will help Jonah, Felix and Jazep's families support them. The funds raised will be used to;

• hire one motor-home in February 2021 for a round-trip from Adelaide to Perth
• purchase diesel
• pay for caravan park sites
• purchase three children's and one adult tickets for an orca boat tour in Bremer Basin 

The above items will allow Jonah, Felix and Jazep to:

• Observe orca in the wild to obtain photos and video to analyse with the Project Orca team and curate a trip video to give to schools and supporters at the end of the trip
• Join Bec Wellard of Project Orca for a school presentation in Perth - a nod of confidence from someone within orca research.
• have access to regional and remote primary schools to raise awareness of orca in Australian waters
• visit an Aboriginal Community to learn the importance of orcas in Aboriginal culture

Why does this matter? Unless we understand the situation for the orca in Australian waters now, we can’t ensure their future tomorrow.  

Thank-you For Understanding

This is a fundraiser and we are only able to purchase items and materials at retail price. We keep costs as reasonable as possible. However, the cost of items, plus postage (which adds substantially to the overall cost) means our incentive items are more than normal retail prices.

The fact that you are looking at them tells us you:

• get that we've put our heart and soul into making or designing these unique, quality items
• get that we want you to get a lasting and meaningful THANK-YOU, for your participation in this initiative.

 Any funds raised in excess of the target amount will be donated, in full, to Project Orca.

How You Can Follow the Progress of this Initiative

• All activities and funding will be updated on The Wild Orca Facebook page
• Press releases will be sent to local media outlets prior to school visits throughout the road trip
• A summary video of the road trip will be distributed electronically to all financial supporters and participants. The date of this is TBA.

What Happens if the Educational Road Trip is Delayed due to COVID?

Any forced delay will mean either;

• the road trip will happen in the winter orca season at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia,
• be rescheduled to the following year's season at Bremer Bay Western Australia.

This trip will definitely happen once the South Australian and West Australian borders are open.

DO Something NOW

Bad things happen when good people do nothing. However, when YOU purchase an item from this fundraiser page, you are educating a future generation to care for the orca in Australia's waters.

It's people like YOU that make GOOD THINGS happen.  

Thank-you.

Please click and purchase (or donate) an item to the right of this page NOW.