Iggy Pop’s lust for wildlife Down Under at Byron Bay veterinary hospital
In one of the strangest rock ‘n’ roll tales you’re likely to hear, an Instagram-famous cockatoo owned by American punk singer Iggy Pop is helping to save Australian native wildlife.
In one of the strangest rock ‘n’ roll tales you’re likely to hear, an Instagram-famous cockatoo owned by American punk singer Iggy Pop is helping to save Australian native wildlife as the founding patron of a unique mobile hospital in northern NSW.
In a new fundraiser to treat injured, sick and orphaned animals, Iggy’s cockatoo – named Biggy Pop – is featured in artwork on limited-edition merchandise created by conservation charity Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, including a craft beer named the Biggy Pop Hop.
Iggy’s bird is a Moluccan cockatoo, which is endemic to the South Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. With his salmon-coloured retractable crest, Biggy is among the largest of the white cockatoo species, and he has become an unlikely online celebrity in recent years.
An Instagram account in his name has more than 108,000 followers, thanks to a series of bizarrely entertaining clips with the oft-shirtless rocker at his home in Miami, Florida, grooving along to all sorts of music together.
Australian rock singer-songwriter Tex Perkins first performed with Iggy Pop at the 1993 Big Day Out tour, as well as subsequent visits in 2006 and 2013 with his iconic band The Stooges.
Best known as the frontman of bands including Beasts of Bourbon and The Cruel Sea, Perkins is also an ambassador for the mobile Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, and this new fundraising initiative with its feathered founding patron was an easy fit.
“How could anyone not jump at the chance to be involved? I’m happy to be Iggy and Biggy’s man on the ground, so to speak,” Perkins said.
“You’ve got your Jaggers, you’ve got your Morrisons – but Iggy is the No.1 rock ‘n’ roll singer of all time, as far as I’m concerned,” Perkins told The Australian.
“He’s above Elvis. He’s No.1, and I’m delighted to be associated.”
The limited-edition Biggy Pop Hop is produced by Ballina-based Seven Mile Brewing, which has donated its ingredients and distribution.
The company says it’s a 5.3 per cent pale ale “on the approachable side of juicy with an exciting blend of hops and fruit forward flavour, yet low bitterness,” while $1 from each beer can sold will go towards hospital fundraising.
Custom-built in 2020 after a successful crowd-funding campaign, the 22-wheel truck is Australia’s largest mobile veterinary hospital, able to respond to wildlife in need during a crisis, including bushfires and floods.
Iggy Pop, who recently turned 75, is touring through Europe until August, while Perkins has shows booked into July, both in duo mode with Matt Walker and with his new outfit Fat Rubber Band.
Biggy Pop, presumably, is at home in Miami, grateful to have been saved by a kind, animal-loving rock ‘n’ roller from a roadside vendor’s cage in a remote part of Florida about 14 years ago.
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