A FARM visitor attraction is desperately trying to raise enough cash to buy feed for its animals after coronavirus lockdown left it short of cash.
The owner of Fairytale Farm, in Southcombe, near Chipping Norton, has set up a Go Fund Me page in a bid to make £3,500.
The farm is adapted for young and disabled visitors, who, before the lockdown, were able to get close to its rabbits, ponies, goats, donkeys, pigs, lambs and rheas – a South American flightless birds similar to ostriches.
Nick Laister said 2020 had already been ‘the most difficult’ year since the farm opened in 2013 – with the wettest February on record, storm Ciara, and now the deadly pandemic sweeping the nation.
He explained that the ‘most important thing’ was that the animals were still fed and looked after but that without an income, after doors were forced shut when the country went into lockdown, it would be nearly impossible.
He wrote on the page: “Now coronavirus has changed all our lives this has meant that the farm has had to close down temporarily, and we are now running out of money. Our priority has now got to be to look after the animals.”
Generous donations meant the team at the farm had just shy of the half the money they needed in the first week.
The fundraising page was set up on Friday, March 20, and by yesterday more than £1,300 had been raised by 50 supporters.
Showing the alpacas at the disabled-friendly farm chomping on their hay bales, Mr Laister thanked everybody for the support so far.
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He said: “We are looking to raise £3,500 to enable us to feed our animals while we are closed. We closed just after the Government announcement and we are now completely shut, without income.
“We don’t expect to have an income for at least three months, possibly even more, it could be five months – who knows. The most important thing is we must feed our animals and that’s the absolute priority I’m just asking everybody to please fund us.
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"Those who have already funded us and got us to a quarter target I’m so grateful for that and I hope people will keep funding us because that’s the most important thing to do at the moment at Fairytale Farm – we need to make sure we keep feeding our animals.
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“Thank you so much to everybody that’s funded. Please keep the funding coming. We’ll be back as soon as the crisis is over, we want to welcome back everybody to the farm.”
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