US actor, Ashton Kutcher, has surprised talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres, with a $4 million donation to The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund.
The money, donated by Ripple, a currency exchange system which Kutcher plans to invest in along with business partner Guy Oseary, was transferred to DeGeneres on the show on Wednesday (May 23rd).
In February, DeGeneres received a 60th birthday gift from wife, Portia DeRossi, in the form of a gorilla sanctuary in Rwanda, which became the first initiative of The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund. DeRossi set up the fund for DeGeneres due to her love and admiration for Dian Fossey, an American conservationist who dedicated much of her life to the endangered mountain gorillas of Rwanda.
” You never ask anyone for anything ever,” Kutcher told the vegan host, “and you said, at some point, I’m gonna need some help with [the gorilla sanctuary], and I said, you’re asking me for help? You never ask anyone for help, ever!” Kutcher later continued, “you’re always thinking about everyone else, and we wanted to show you, that people are thinking about you. So, on behalf of Ripple, we’d like to give you $4 million …we can transfer it into Rwandan francs right now, right here.”
In the past, the talk show host has helped the animals in many ways, by giving exposure to vegan activists, such as James Aspey, and by speaking out against injustices, such as President Trump’s intention to lift the ban on imported hunting trophies. “Elephants show compassion, sympathy, social intelligence, self-awareness…all the things I have yet to see in this president,” DeGeneres stated in an online video, as part of her campaign #BeKindtoElephants. For every person who shared the video, the host stated a donation would be made to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Furthermore, the star recently added her signature to a letter sent to the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, asking him to end the “brutal slaughter of millions of dogs and cats for the meat trade.”
Image Credit: Wiki Media
