Biggy Pop, a cockatoo and “feathered bestie” belonging to The Stooges rocker Iggy Pop, has been named the official “founding patron” of the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital as they work to build a mobile wildlife hospital.
The cockatoo, who already boasts nearly 88k followers on his official Instagram account run by his featherless father Iggy Pop, released a “statement” via the Australian animal hospital about his new accolade.
“I’m a bird, and a real wild one, and I have many cockatoo cousins in Australia. I was so distressed to hear that 180 million birds died in the catastrophic bushfire crisis that killed over 3 billion native animals over the Australian summer. That really horrified me.”
He added, “I heard about the team of Australian veterinarians building Australia’s largest mobile wildlife hospital and I thought, ‘That is such a brilliant idea.’”
“My dad Iggy has visited Australia many times including to perform at Byron Bay Bluesfest. He told me it’s a really cool place where people care for nature and love music, dancing, art and creativity. ”
The statement from Biggy continued, “So when they asked if I would be their founding Patron, I thought ‘Yeah, I’d love to connect with my bird sisters and brothers in the magical land of Oz.”
Iggy Pop also released a statement regarding Biggy’s achievement that read:
“About 12 years ago a roadside vendor in a remote part of Florida stuffed Biggy, who was very young, into a tiny cage alongside some chickens, by the side of the road.”
Iggy continued, “He seemed to be in peril of a bad future. So we decided to take care of him, responsibly. And we have. He gets and gives a lot of love.”
Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital Founder and CEO, Dr Stephen Van Mil, added: “When we heard that Iggy cares as much about wildlife as we do, it made perfect sense for Biggy Pop to be our founding Patron.”
“We are over the moon and truly honoured that he’s the bird to help us spread the word. Together, with Biggy, we’re doing this #forthewildlife.”
