ANIMAL TRAGIC
OWNER OF AILING BUSINESS CLAIMS SOME EXOTIC BEASTS MAY HAVE TO BE PUT DOWN IF IT FAILS
EXOTIC animals hired out for parties may have to be destroyed because coronavirus has devastated their owner’s business.
Amanda Richardson, who runs The Party Animals with her husband, Lee, said she has been forced to live on her son’s disability payments.
The Desford company provides exotic animals and reptiles for children’s parties and other events but has been forced to cancel bookings due to Covid-19.
It has tarantulas, snakes, scorpions, armadillos and skunks among its menagerie.
The business also hires animals out for films, and one of its foxes was due to appear in a Hollywood movie that has also been delayed.
“Last year was going to be our big break,” Ms Richardson said.
Instead, The Party Animals has been forced to launch a GoFundMe page to help pay to feed the 200 animals in its care, including alligators, meerkats and snakes.
Several of the animals are classed as endangered species, putting them at greater risk if Amanda is unable to find the money for rent and feed costs.
“We can’t sell them, we can’t move them to somewhere else, so they would have to be put down,” she told the PA news agency.
“I have had my racoon, one of the invasive species, since she was 10 days old.
“She’s nearly five, and that would be my worst nightmare.”
The company is still getting bookings for later in the year, and Amanda said it is still a “viable business”.
Amanda said she received a £10,000 government grant at the beginning of April last year and was later forced to take out a £16,000 loan.
The family business also applied to the council for support and a further grant was paid in February. But she does not qualify for the government’s coronavirus support measures because she is a limited company director and relies on a small amount of Universal Credit from her husband, as well as her son’s disability payments, to make ends meet.
She said The Party Animals has not been able to pay its £1,500 rent bill since last March, so is building up arrears and now faces tens of thousands of pounds of debt which it will struggle to repay.
She said that 2020 had been forecast to be the business’ most successful year yet, but the pandemic has left them contemplating closing down entirely.
“It is just constantly at the back of my mind,” she said. “I have never been in this amount of debt.” Amanda said she has already been forced to sell one of her foxes to a wildlife park to pay some bills, which she described as “heart-breaking”.
She was turned down for help by the council because the company does not count as a “closed business” and said it has “been a battle” to get support.
Sarah Pennelli, of Blaby District Council, said: “The government guidance is very specific and, as a result, we have been unable to award a grant under the Closed Scheme.
“However, we approached Party Animals in early February to provide information in order that we could look at providing a grant under the alternative open scheme.
“We are still awaiting this information from the owners to be able to make an award.
“Blaby District Council was not aware that the owners considered closing the business, and the council would be eager to talk further with Mrs Richardson.”
We can’t sell them or move them somewhere else, so they’d have to be put down
Amanda Richardson