A zoo owner who feared having to euthanise his animals due to the coronavirus lockdown has thanked the public after receiving thousands of pounds through a GoFundMe page.

The Fenn Bell Conservation Project Zoo in St Mary Hoo near Rochester has received more than £24,000 in donations following a KentOnline story that went live this morning.

Community rallies around cash strapped Fenn Bell Zoo and Pub

Those behind the Fenn Bell Conservation Project were worried that without public support they may have had to make the tough decision of either letting animals starve or put them to sleep.

Andy Cowell, who owns the zoo and pub said: "We decided to go with the GoFundMe page after a local lady rung me up and said I want to set this up for you, you need help.

"I didn't want to do it, I didn't feel that I wanted to do it because I don't want to beg.

"We're not beggars, we work extremely hard, but we've been put in this position so I've gone with it, I feel just feel really emotional about it.

"The people have come out and supported us when we really really need it.

"The most important thing to us is our animals, they mean the world and we're just very grateful."

Over the span of several hours kind hearted individuals have come together to raise an incredible £24,037, with the figure continuing to rise.

More than 1,500 people have donated to Medway's first licensed zoo with donations ranging from £10 to £1,000.

Many well wishers took to the GoFundMe page to leave donations and kind words.

Amy Claxton said: "Nobody asked for this, especially not helpless animals, we can’t leave them to starve or leave the Fenn Bells owners feeling alone."

Mike and Margaret Gallafent said: "We are from Dartford and have not heard of you before today.

"We hadn’t really thought how devastating Covid-19 would be to businesses such as yours, now we know. Thank you for enlightening us."
Andy Cowell had many sleepless nights over the last few weeks, trying to come up with a way to keep the zoo running without visitor donations, ticket sales or the pub and restaurant open.

He said: "It costs us £2,000 a week to feed all of our animals, and although we've received the government grant after we closed the pub and furloughed our staff, it's not enough.

"We may have to make the difficult decision to euthanise some of the animals to give the rest a chance. It's that or they starve."

But now, with more than double the initial £10,000 target, The Fenn Bell Conservation project will be able to continue caring for it's animals into the summer months.

Hannah Wait, who donated to the cause, posted on GoFundMe: "After such hard work to create such a much loved establishment and experience, I'm sure it would be devastating for the owners to have to make hard decisions regarding the future of their much loved animals and their own livelihood.

"Good luck during this difficult time."

The Fenn Bell Conservation Project also has an Amazon wish-list that you can use to support the zoo's animals, click here.

For more information about the zoo you can visit their Facebook page or website.

If you would like to support Andy and The Fenn Bell Conservation Project visit the GoFundMe page, here.

Read more: All the latest news from Medway

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The KM Group is committed to helping the community through the KM Charity team. For more information and to find out what other good causes you can get involved in click here.