The Brantford Twin Valley Zoo is seeking financial support from the public to feed its animals as it remains closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The big issue for us is that we have 183 days to make enough money to make it all the way through the wintertime,” Jennifer Stallmann told Global News on Tuesday.
The zoo has launched a GoFundMe campaign in an effort to pay the bills, noting “we have 326 mouths to feed. We can not simply close, shut the lights off and wait.”
Stallman said the zoo will not have time to make enough money to make it through the winter.
She said they had opened the zoo to the public last weekend but was disheartened when Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not include wildlife parks among outdoor activities which were allowed to open.
“It’s (more of) a priority for our wealthier adult individuals to go out golfing from separate households or to the marina than for a family … to walk through an outdoor zoo together,” Stallman noted.
“We have no choice, we are now forced to humbly ask for support again,” the GofFundme campaign notes.
In addition to the GoFundMe campaign, the zoo is also asking people to write letters to politicians at every level of government, as well as to Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an attempt to get funding and get the doors open.
The Brantford Twin Valley Zoo is home to more than 300 animals, including lions, but Stallman says it recently began to shift its focus towards becoming more of a sanctuary.
“We are moving to a sanctuary status and incorporating a huge garden so that we’re more self-sustaining,” she explained.
“We’re also incorporating different educational practices and we’ll be incorporating some more spiritual practices as far as yoga and grounding and just have a more all-encompassing park that we can do more for our community.”
Stallman explained the zoo was no longer breeding its cats but it will be a refuge for animals.
Stallman noted that at times, people buy exotic animals and may have bitten off more than they can chew, so the zoo ends up being home to those animals.
“We also work with the Ministry of Natural Resources because there’s animals that are hurt in the wild, and they can be rehabilitated to survive, but they cannot make it out in the wild,” she explained. “So we step in there as well. We have two red-tailed hawks and a red fox from those situations.”
She continued: “We also have a fox from a fur farm. So she wasn’t turned into a coat. So there is a lot more to the facility in the park than I think people realize.”