May 21, 2020 - 1660 views
Colwyn Bay's community is really coming together to help their much-loved zoo stay open in the long term amid the threat of closure due to financial worries brought about as a result of lockdown.
The situation at the Welsh Mountain Zoo has been made worse by Welsh Government saying that they will not establish a sustainability fund for zoos and aquariums in Wales despite a similar scheme being set up in England.
A Rydal Penrhos Prep School pupil is taking on a daunting challenge to raise money for a prominent North Wales tourist attraction.
Cameron Pye, a Year 6 pupil at Rydal Penrhos, is attempting to scale the equivalent of Mount Everest from the comfort of his own home during breaks in-between his online learning.
The challenge involves going up his household steps 4.466 times to reach the required vertical steps of 58,065.
He is raising money for the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay, who are currently facing an uncertain future as the impact of Covid-19 is hitting the site hard financially.
The UK Government has put in place an animal welfare grant of up to £100,000 for England.
The Welsh Government is not intending to replicate the scheme in Wales and is encouraging attractions to apply to its economic resilience scheme.
Cameron, said: “The Welsh Mountain Zoo is suffering financially as many tourist attractions are but in Wales they aren’t receiving the same government support that other UK zoos are.
“I have been visiting this zoo since I was a toddler and last year I was even lucky enough to get to experience feeding the penguins, one of my favourite animals.
“My lifelong favourite animal however, is the snow leopard as my friends and family will know. For this reason, I am challenging myself to climb my stairs at home over 4,466 times to complete 58,065 vertical steps to the home of the snow leopards - Mount Everest.
“Any donation however small will be appreciated to help this wonderful zoo open its doors after all of this is over.”
The Rydal Penrhos pupil is a talented skier and has achieved a wealth of high finishes at national competitions up and down the country in recent months.
Cameron has already raised more than £500 for the zoo during the initial stages of his challenge, and anyone that wishes to donate can do so on his JustGiving page situated at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cameron-pye1.
Bayside has also heard from proud mum Gemma Daniels who is doing a sponsored walk shortly with her young son Oscar as part of their daily excercise programme.
Gemma was mentioned on Good Morning Colwyn Bay earlier after getting in touch to say her son wanted to support the animals at this time.
"I asked mummy if we could go to the zoo because I love to see the animals. The meerkats are my favourite!
"She said we couldn't go because of the germs and that the zoo was closed so the zoo now don't have much money. I asked my mummy how we can give them money".
Mum Gemma came up with the idea of a sponsored walk with her 4 year old son and has set up a fundraising page online. If you can help please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar-daniels1
