An animal adventure park has launched a virtual farming experience to lift people’s spirits during coronavirus uncertainty.
Keeper at Animal Farm Adventure Park, Krystal Finch, also started a Go Fund Me page to buy feed and support staff to care for more than 250 animals at the park in Berrow.
Animal Farm faced flood damage earlier in the year and the outbreak of coronavirus has lead to its temporary closure, which leaves the park facing ‘serious issues’ in the district.
Raccoons, llamas, goats, sheep, chipmunks, and a vast collection of reptiles and bugs live at the adventure park, which is crowdfunding £5,000 to help care for its residents since it does not qualify for council funding.
Krystal said: “We’re doing our virtual farm experience visiting different enclosures at the adventure park to lift people’s spirits who are stuck indoors.
“My concern is for the staff and to keep these animals safe, since this project came into my head, it has cheered everyone up who has been involved.
“We need help with business rates as we don’t come up in the leisure category, we’re classed in the animal parks category, and, at the moment, North Somerset Council has said we can’t apply for funding to help our business survive.
“We have four carers for our animals, it’s lambing season and we’ve got a variety of animals to take care of from sheep, alpacas and reptiles, so we need funding for our staff and animal care.
“At the moment, we are running short on animal feed and we needed to work out what can we do going forward.
“We want to look after the animals, make sure they are fed and we need to ensure the place is clean and tidy for them to live in, and, in the coming months, when the government decides we can reopen, we need to be ready to welcome holidaymakers back through the doors.
“Doing these virtual videos can keep us working, they’re educational and we’re thinking of running up to three a day.
“We are all in this together, and we need someone to communicate with, we’ve run a few videos so far and we all need a little cheering up so no one feels alone, especially people in Weston who need us.”
You can watch the latest from the virtual farm, every day at 12pm and 4pm here.
To donate, log on to www.gofundme.com/f/rng28-help-us-keep-the-animals-fed-at-animal-farm
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