• Director
• Board Members
• s.franklin@live.com.au

Living in Queensland for most of his life, Steve worked in mining spending most of a 25-year career FIFO from various sites in Papua New Guinea.

In 2007 he visited an Asian Elephant sanctuary in Northern Thailand with his wife.  From there, he slowly became further involved and rescued an elephant from a Thai trekking camp in 2009.  Since then he has continued to volunteer with different organisations in Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and Borneo.

During this time, he has worked with several different species including Asian Elephants, Macaques, Gibbons, Asiatic Black Bears, Sun Bears and Orangutans. The volunteering involved enrichment and construction projects and animal husbandry.

 In 2014 Steve spent 8 weeks volunteering at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre located in Malaysian Borneo.  This was an incredible experience leading to a better understanding of the desperate plight of these amazing creatures in the wild and a big desire to help.

 Joining the OFI Australia Board in 2019, Steve is invaluable, assisting us with all things IT.