As the world mourned to loss of iconic actress Betty White, the Audubon Aquarium shared a previously unknown story of White's generosity, WWL reports.
According to an Audubon Aquarium spokesperson, White paid for a prive plane to relocate the aquariums otters and penguins to the Monterey Bay Aquarium after Hurricane Katrina.
"Audubon did not find out until after the trip that Betty White had paid for a portion of the trip," Audubon spokesperson Annie Matherne told WWL. "Betty was a huge animal advocate and conservationist. She did not want any fanfare surrounding her part in the relocation; she just wanted to help how she could. We are deeply saddened by the loss of a true friend.”
Tom Dyer, who cared for the birds at the Audubon Aquarium at the time, shared the story on Twitter after White's death.
"I took care of the birds at the Aquarium for 21 years. After Katrina, we evacuated every animal that made it that we could. Got a call from Monterey Bay AQ. that they would take our 19 penguins and two sea otters and they had a plane in Baton Rouge ready to go. We got the animals there and boarded and I and a Vet flew with them. Asked the pilot what this was costing. I believe it was about $70,000," Dyer tweeted. "Next morning, wanted to thank the director who I knew slightly. She said a donor paid and did not want to be identified. It finally leaked years later and Betty White did it. Didn’t want anybody to know."
But finally, years later, it did leak that it was White who footed the bill, he tweeted.
"I’ve never posted socially about this, but what a Classy (expletive deleted) Dame," he tweeted.
