Don Bosco Philippines South Province

An American millionaire, according to Yahoo News, donated $8 million to Wombat Awareness Organization, a “non-profit organization specializing in large scare rescue and rehabilitation of the Southern, hairy-nosed wombat.” The donation will come $1 million per year starting next year. The news spurred tremendous web interest in these creatures that “wombat” search nearly doubled in 24 hours. These animals are found in Australia. They are chubby, nocturnal, burrowing marsupials often the target of fed-up farmers as they cause destruction to their farmland.

I find it amazing how some people can be so overwhelmingly generous to unknown animals. But what surprises me more is that there were actually rich people who squandered their wealth uselessly.

Hotel icon and “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley left a staggering $12 million to her dog “Trouble” in 2007. But that is nothing compared to what a German Shepherd named Gunther III inherited in 1992. His owner, German countess Karlotta Libenstein left her pet an unbelievable sum of $60 million. When Gunther III died, the fortune went to — of course — Gunther IV.

Indeed Dogs are better off than millions of people on the other side of the world who live much worse than animals. How our priorities can really go wrong at times to give more importance to lesser creatures than the children of God who need food, shelter and education to be able to live decently.