‘PLEASE help us so we can keep our animals fed and safe.’ 

Those are the words of Krystal Finch, site manager at Animal Farm Adventure Park in Berrow, who has launched an urgent appeal to raise £5,000 to help keep more than 250 animals at the park fed and safe amid the coronavirus crisis. 

Krystal said the park, which opened in 1984 in Red Road, has struggled in the last six months after two storms battered Somerset, the farm was flooded and coronavirus hit the UK and urgently needs funding to stay open and look after its animals. 

She said: “We are at the most testing time in the history of Animal Farm, a country park first opened in 1984, one of the first in the country, it has never faced the problems of 2020. 

“We were closed during the winter as not a lot of people come to the animal park when it’s cold and wet but we reopened at the start of 2020 and we hopeful that visitor numbers would go up but that has not been the case.  

“We have seen a decrease in visitor numbers and we have had to battle a number of challenges. Two big storms have hit Somerset which caused damaged to our pig barn roof and to our rabbit building and we had flooding on site.  

“We wanted to replace and repair both of these things but we have just not had the money to do it.” 

Krystal said business has suffered more since coronavirus hit the UK last month and now the park needs to raise £5,000 to make sure they can look after the animals and pay their staff. 

“Coronavirus hitting the UK could not have come at a worse time,” Krystal said. 

“We have more than 250 animals here which we need to look after from llamas and a raccoon to pigs and chickens.  

“We need to make sure that we can stock up on medication and food to look after them and make sure we have enough money in case we call the vets out. 

“We also have a very dedicated team of staff here who we need to make sure are paid. They do such an amazing job and we need to make sure they can support themselves and their families through this difficult time.  

“We all really care for these animals and we want to do the best for them and our staff. If we could raise £5,000 that would really help us. We’ve never had to something like this before but we need support.” 

Krystal said staff at the adventure park will be hosting virtual events over the next few weeks to enable residents to enjoy a tour of the park and see the animals.  

“It is a difficult time for everyone and I think it will help to keep families who are self-isolating occupied.” 

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