A small zoo owner has pleaded for help and expressed he could be forced to put his animals down due to struggling to pay for their food amid lockdown.
Andy Cowell is the founder of the Fenn Bell Conservation Project that started off as the animal lover adopted two Kune Kune pigs.
Since then, Mr. Cowell has provided rescue animals and animals from other zoos with a new home in Kent, the UK.
Nowadays, the zoo boasts of 120 animals and dozens of different species. However, due to lockdown, Cowell had found himself in a tough financial position whereas he could no longer pay for the food for the animals.
As Cowell warned, he was forced to think about the alternative of putting the animals down in order to prevent them from starving to death.
“I’ve had so many sleepless nights over the last few weeks trying to come up with a way to keep the zoo running without visitor donations, ticket sales or the pub and restaurant open,” the zoo owner said.
“We’ve had to make a plan and may have to make the difficult decision to euthanize some of the animals to give the rest a chance. It’s that or they starve.”
In his emotional plea, the man also asked for donations to keep the animals at the zoo well-fed and alive.
“I hate begging – I really do – but we will run out of money. I appreciate people are dying and my heart goes out to everyone struggling in these hard times, but the animals we keep here, they didn’t ask for this situation,” Cowell said according to Kent Online.
“I feel like the government has forgotten about us, the big zoos will have grants and funding, and they will be able to continue when all of this finishes, but us smaller places have no chance, we rely on public donations.”
Fortunately, Good Samaritans responded and donated more than $50,000 as of this writing.
If you wish to help Cowell and his animals, you can also make a donation at GoFundMe.
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Replaced!