NEWS
ACRES IN THE NEWS
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The Straits Times
31 May 07
Wildlife rescue centre needs $250k more or construction halts
Total $1m bill includes operation costs for centre till year end
By Melissa Tan
THE Acres Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC) is in need of some rescuing of its own.
Construction of the centre at Sungei Tengah in Choa Chu Kang started in January but plans to complete it by the end of next month may be stalled due to lack of funds.
Over the past eight months, Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) has raised $507,000 for the AWRC, but this is not enough to foot the bill, estimated at $1 million, which includes operation costs till the end of the year.
Just to complete construction, Acres requires $250,000 more in cash. 'If we don't manage to raise the money, all work will have to stop as Acres has no reserves to draw upon,' said executive director Louis Ng.
Yesterday, the AWRC received non-monetary help from more than 120 students from eight schools, who painted colourful murals on the whitewashed walls of the newly constructed buildings and enclosures. Corporate sponsors are also pitching in. Six staff members from Rendezvous Hotel joined in the painting.
'It was good that our manager gave us the green light to help Acres out during office hours, as we are not a large hotel,' said marketing communications manager Melanie Lee, 35.
The Singapore Press Holdings Foundation and the Body Shop Foundation will be sponsoring enclosures, and the Lee Foundation will sponsor an educational centre.
The AWRC will house wild animals brought here illegally and try to repatriate them to their country of origin. Acres, which has been providing a rescue programme since 2004, had to stop its rescue programme last December due to insufficient space.
Said Mr Ng: 'We will be able to restart our rescue efforts only after the AWRC is built.'
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