{"id":70587,"date":"2020-08-19T04:54:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T18:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=70587"},"modified":"2020-08-19T09:30:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T23:30:34","slug":"help-wildlife-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/help-wildlife-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Caring for our critters: How you can help the Ballarat Wildlife Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 brought with it widespread financial devastation for many Victorian businesses with the Ballarat Wildlife Park being no exception.<\/p>\n

According to its owners, the Ballarat Wildlife Park expenditure for animal welfare related products and services are near $46,000 for one month alone.<\/p>\n

Without revenue from ticket sales and with government grants looking to dry up, the operators are finding it difficult to continue providing this level of care to its animals.<\/p>\n

To lend out a helping hand, director of Small Dog Design Darren Collinson kick started a Go Fund Me page to raise essential funding to assist the Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

He has put out a call out for the local and wider community to support the cause and said any kind of donation will help.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt our business, we\u2019ve been doing as much as we can to help out other local businesses, doing what we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with the Wildlife Park for around six years and I\u2019ve been taking my kids there for years, so it\u2019s close to our heart because it\u2019s a wonderful place.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, they\u2019re managing okay so the animals aren\u2019t going without, but they are pouring everything they\u2019ve got into keeping the zoo going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the future remains unclear, owners of the park are hopeful about welcoming visitors back at some point.<\/p>\n

Owner Greg Parker said while they are proud of Ballarat\u2019s support, the most important thing is being able to get locals and tourists back in, interacting with the animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support from Darren and the community so far is very appreciated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are difficult times, this is our second lockdown, with no avenues of income and large overhead costs which nothing can be done about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frightening because I don\u2019t think there will be a second round of funding, there\u2019s no sign of them extending that for another two quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life support systems including heating, filtration systems, food, veterinary services and equipment is just a start on animal welfare systems the park has in place.<\/p>\n

Because of the high quality of care provided to their animals, Mr Parker said once you start adding up the costs they quickly escalate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very expensive business and you don\u2019t realise it so much until your income is pulled away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat so many people don\u2019t realise is having the animals on show is only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much work done behind the scenes that benefits the environment and the future of our world populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to Mr Collinson\u2019s Wildlife Park Go Fund Me page, search at gofundme.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 brought with it widespread financial devastation for many Victorian businesses with the Ballarat Wildlife Park being no exception. According to its owners, the Ballarat Wildlife Park expenditure for animal welfare related products and services are near $46,000 for one month alone. Without revenue from ticket sales and with government grants looking to dry up, […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":70588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-70587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCaring for our critters: How you can help the Ballarat Wildlife Park - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/help-wildlife-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caring for our critters: How you can help the Ballarat Wildlife Park - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"COVID-19 brought with it widespread financial devastation for many Victorian businesses with the Ballarat Wildlife Park being no exception. According to its owners, the Ballarat Wildlife Park expenditure for animal welfare related products and services are near $46,000 for one month alone. 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