Sled, thanks so much. Their phones have been very busy. if you have trouble getting thru, try emailing Anita@zootoyou.com or David@zootoyou.com.
here is the text for an email I rec'd this am
First We really want to thank everyone who called, The sound of a familiar voice made all the difference in the world. This has been so hard.
All of you who wrote, Knowing that we have friends that care, is the best feeling in the world.
All of you who gave. And are continuing to give. That is amazing and we will not let you down.
And we want to thank the fireman who so lovingly treated each animal like a family member. They were so amazing.
On the wall in our office was the first check we ever received, and pictures of all our animal friends.
On the wall in our new office is going to be copies of all the checks from all the caring people, some we have known for years some we have never formally met, but all who have come to help us in our time of need. There will be pictures of the people who just showed up from the moment they heard. There will be names of those who lent a hand who brought supplys, who gave things that we needed. There will be letters from people who cared to send a friendly note. And most importantly there will be pictures of the animals the friends who we lost. The ambassadors who lost their lives that morning April 23rd.
You start each day thinking about what you are going to do that day. Start the training on the new spoonbill. Feed the baby porcupine… but then you get the call…. Angela is screeming… “ the house is on fire!” I think My house is on fire? I live there at the zoo. Then she screams again “ The office, the office is on fire”
We could never imagine the devastation. You always think if a building is on fire you would run in and rescue the animals inside. That was not an option. The smoke was so thick and black we could not even see in. The flames were covering the ceiling. We could not even approach the building. We grabbed hoses and just tried what we could. Then a man on a horse rides up ( we are in the country after all) and starts telling us what to do. Hose here… hose there…. Finally the fireman show up.
Every staff member came to work. Even those who were not supposed to be in that day. Then old staff members show up, neighbors, friends, supporters, family. How did they even know? The flames weren't even out yet... We just held each other as it sunk in.
We started to really think about which animals were in there.
Lisa Lulu the macaque
Bob the alligator and his girlfriend
Moglee and Bageerah the sloths
Ashley, Nick, Rosie and Cinder the chinchillas and the babies
The hedgehogs
All the frogs
The Tarantulas and the millipede
Chalky the African Grey
Sydney the galah or as I called her pretty pink pigeon
Johnny the blue and gold macaw ( you can have as many walnuts as you want in heaven)
Linus the slow Loris
Lassie and Ben the Kookaburras
Aragon the Iguana……….
What happened after the flames are out was the miracle. As they look through the rubble a voice comes out. “ Are any of the snakes Venomous?”
“No” I say “but we do have venomous lizards”
Then they start bring out one after another of reptile enclosure. It was like they were handing out miracles. After two hours of pure devastation and grief comes a little light, some glimmer of hope. First Houdini the king snake that won’t die… he is so old we stopped counting at 15 years. Then the humungous dumerils boa. It goes on….
So out of it we have 24 survivors. 24 miracles that must have held their breath.
So what now?
Everyone wants to know what now?
What can people do to help?
The insurance people have picked it apart and decided that it was the battery back up surge protector on the computer that started the fire. That it smoldered for about 30 minutes before breaking into fire. ( how do they figure that out? I guess everyone has a skill) Nothing we could have done to prevent it.
The insurance is going to cover the lose of the building and the office stuff. Not the animals enclosures or equipment.
It was our office. It was where we housed our tempeture sensitive animals, It was our bathroom, (one of my friends dropped of a port-a-potty the next day) it was where we had all our educational supplies, (leashes collars, crate covers, towels, training pouches, duffle bags, soft crates...,) All of our uniforms for us and volunteers. It was were we kept all the cleaning supplies. I was where we kept our safety equipment.
We need to replace all those things. We are working on that, but we also lost all the things in the office that were so precious to us. Like the pictures of our animals. Plaques awards, letters from kids pictures they drew things that were precious to us... That was were we kept our sound equipment. It was also where we kept all of our educational materials.
If you have attended one of our shows and have a picture of one of our animals, especially of one that we lost in the fire we would love to have it. We lost 20 years of memories.
People keep asking us " how can I help?" So many of you have already.
Our website has a paypal link www.zootoyou.com
It is going to take some money to replace the things we need immediatly to keep doing our educational programs. We thank those of you who have helped already.
Out of the ashes rises the Phoenix.
We will build a new beautiful and very green office (with sprinkler system) As soon as the insurance money kicks in.
We hope to take up many offers of help when we build so if you are still up for that email us again and we will give you a building schedule.
If you can think of something that we are not thinking of email us. We are still in shock and trying to sort it all out. We tell people look around your education building. What do you have in there? That is what we lost. And need to replace.... We can never replace the lives we lost on Thursday. We will forever keep those 38 in our hearts. We thank everyone who grieves with us.
If you know of someone we missed email us, we have lost a great portion of our database. (Yes we backed up and the back up disk was right there next to the computer that both burned to the ground…..)
And for those of you who loved Lisa Lu Lu as much as us there will be a memorial service and burial for her as well as the others on Sunday May 3 at noon at Zoo To You in Paso Robles. We invite all who would like to attend.
The news coverage has been good to us, ( i know news and good in the same sentance....) The good links to go to are.
http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=10236624
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30388249/
Thank you again for your support and love. We really can not make it through this tragic time without the support of our friends. Thanks
Anita Jackson
Director of Education
Conservation Ambassadors