Prescott Grant and Orphaned Orca Fund
At that critical time, conservationists presented an idea to NMFS—the Springer project could be funded by the newly established and little-known Prescott Marine Mammal Stranding grant, taking advantage of language inserted by Washington's Congressional delegation that provided "priority consideration for gray whale and orca strandings in the Pacific Northwest." Springer of course was not a stranded whale, but if she were deemed by NMFS as a "pending stranding," the agency could possibly expedite the Prescott money. NMFS agreed.
Applications were made for two $100,000 USD grants, with a requirement that both be triggered by 1/3 matching contributions, or a total of $66,667 USD. NMFS invited five non-profit organizations to form the "Orphaned Orca Fund" (OOF) to raise the matching funds for the Prescott grants—Orca Alliance, Project SeaWolf, People for Puget Sound, The Whale Museum and Orca Conservancy. Free Willy-Keiko Foundation/Earth Island Institute and Friends of the San Juans would soon join OOF. The new coalition immediately passed a Motion that stated that "no funds raised by OOF can be used to remove A73 to a marine facility." The next day, Project SeaWolf officially resigned from OOF. But the group continued assisting the Springer project in material ways, particularly when the time came to rescue and repatriate the orca.
The public response to helping Springer was overwhelming. In a matter of weeks, OOF successfully raised the matching funds triggering the Prescott grants. There was now approximately $266,666 USD in cash and in-kind services and equipment available to the project, by most accounts more than enough to get Springer home.
Read more about this topic: Springer (killer Whale)
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