Summary Guests shelled out between $7,000 and $130,000 to attend the event.
NICE (AFP) - Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has raised more than $25 million (18 million euros) at a charity gala in France for his foundation which aims at protecting the environment and endangered species.
The fundraiser late Wednesday in the chic Riviera seaside resort of Saint-Tropez included an auction of Hollywood and rock and roll memorabilia and works by Damien Hirst and Pablo Picasso.
It also included DiCaprio s Harley Davidson motorbike bearing the signatures of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro and a guitar belonging to U2 frontman Bono.
DiCaprio told the 500 guests -- who included stars ranging from US soap star Joan Collins to French actress Marion Cotillard -- that animal and flora species were rapidly disappearing on a scale last seen when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Guests shelled out between $7,000 and $130,000 to attend the event.
A sculpture by British artist Damien Hirst was snapped up for $6 million by Russian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, while South African tycoon Patrice Motsepe paid $1 million for a Picasso drawing.
