The Red River Zoo Needs Your Help

I know that many of you only read this blog for the security and business information.  However, I have hopes that you enjoy the Tuesday natural history musings, and in that vein, I want to make you aware of the situation going on in Fargo, ND.  This is a bit more personal that most of my other postings, but I hope that you’ll understand the reasons why this post has little to nothing to do about I.T. or security.

Some of you may have heard about the massive flooding in Fargo, ND. Well, for the moment, the Red River Zoo is safe, but many of the homes and businesses in Fargo are not. To help out, the zoo is accepting people’s exotic pets so that they can be cared for while the rest of Fargo flees. It’s a small zoo, but a good one. Some of you may recall the photos I’ve taken there.

This zoo is special. It’s fairly young and has a very small staff. Yet, they have managed to:

Breed Russian Red Tree Squirrels (See the blog)

Raise Pallas’ Cats

Breed Sichuan Takins (See the blog)

Raise Red Pandas

Along with many many others. (See the blogs for the porcupines and wolves.)

But here’s the thing. Unlike some of the larger zoos out there, this zoo is funded entirely with donations, and have managed to do one heck of job without using public funds. During and immediately after a disaster like what is impacting Fargo, the monies that are available tend to dry up. At the same time, we have a zoo that operates on a skeleton staff bending over backwards to save people’s pets. They need money to pay for the new animals and to keep things going until things start to get better.

I’ve made a quick PayPal account for them. I know that many of you are focusing efforts on things like:

• Helping save Peter and Erika’s house
• Fighting against racism, direct and subtle
• Helping Tzaddia Morningstar pay for cancer treatment

These are all worthy causes, and I’m not asking you to take anything away from them. All I ask is that if you have a spare $5, $10 or $20, can you toss it towards the Red River Zoo to help feed some animals.

I’m going to let this run for a few weeks, sweeping the account every Friday. I’ll send them a check for whatever is there to help them operate during the crisis. When it’s all done, I’ll close the PayPal account. There will be no auction and not a lot of bugging. All I’m asking is:

• If you can afford to drop a few dollars, please do so.
• If you can direct people to this post, so that others can drop a few dollars in the account, please do so.

The donation button is here:

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so to:

Flood Contributions
The Red River Zoo
4220 21st Ave SW
Fargo, ND 58104

If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

Thank you.