Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison says he will donate some of his vast wealth to create a wildlife rehabilitation and breeding center to be built in Northern California, intended to improve the survival changes of endangered species of reptiles, amphibians and insects.
The wildlife refuge, which will also contain an education center, will be set up on 170 acres of woodland in a long-unused quarry in the Santa Cruz mountains southeast of San Jose.
While Ellison is known for his contributions to efforts to help endangered wildlife such as elephants and gorillas overseas, the California venture, in partnership with the Peninsula Humane Society, will help protect more humble creatures like the San Francisco garter snake, the Pacific giant salamander and a vanishing species of butterfly, Lange's metalmark butterfly.
The amount of Ellison's donation was not disclosed but was described as "very significant" by society President Ken White.
Ellison had already donated $3 million to the humane center for construction of its headquarters in Burlingame.
Construction costs of the wildlife center, to be known as the Conservation Center for Wildlife Care, have been estimated at $50 million.
The center's captive breeding programs will be focused on species in the state that don't get as much public attention as "charismatic" creatures such as the California condor, White said.
"It's truly wonderful how people have committed to the condor, and if we came to see it go extinct it would be a very graphic, very philosophical thing," he said. "But if we saw the hummingbirds and the bees go extinct, then life for all would end."
White said the center could care for around 8,500 "patients" annually from the surrounding counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco.
He had nothing but praise for Ellison's generosity and commitment to the humane society's efforts.
"It's a very significant contribution," White said of Ellison's contribution. "He has been very kind to this organization. There's not enough money for any charitable causes, and there's even less for those involving animals. And among those causes, ones benefiting local wildlife are at the bottom."
Chris Nagano, head of the endangered species division of the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the new wildlife center with its emphasis invertebrates would be the first of its type and bring needed expertise at a time when species such as bees and butterflies are threatened.
"People from all over the world will be looking at this," Nagano said.
