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Help Livingart Wildlife Park (Tauranga)-DREAMS DO COME TRUE!


Lucid

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Is there a way we can help Livingart? :cry:

Bay Of Plenty Times - News Report:

$700,000 debt pushes Tauranga Park to brink of collapse.

07.08.2008

by Alison King

The future is uncertain for hundreds of animals at a Tauranga wildlife park and the couple who look after them.

Come next Thursday, the hammer will go down on the Living Art Wildlife Park and its founders Mark and Caroline Paterson will be forced to look for a new home.

The couple have owned the Barkes Corner park since it was a pumice quarry and sawdust pit in 1994. Since then they have ploughed every dollar back into it, rearing animals, tending to rescued birds and giving city folk the chance to interact with nature.

But with increasingly tough times, the Patersons have had to put the park up for auction and hope to have enough left over to find somewhere new to live.

"You haven't got a spare $700,000 in your pocket have you," Mr Paterson asked when the Bay of Plenty Times visited yesterday.

Mrs Paterson said the pair had invested more than money into the business _ the only time off they have had in 14 years was for hospital visits.

"I'll miss 14 years of creating life, then someone will destroy it with a bulldozer," she said through tears.

"It's not just the land, but we've created a home for all these animals. It's so sad. We don't know where we're going to go. These animals are our family and we're responsible for them. I stay up until 1am because I don't want the next day to come."

It takes $3000 a week to run the park, with $1400 going on animal feed and heating for the aquariums and a penguin rehabilitation pond. There are more than 600 animals and birds at the park, ranging in size from small tropical fish through to kunekune and highland cattle.

Mr Paterson said: "We've been eating Weetbix for dinner. The animals come first."

The couple have been trying to work out how to stay open since they started to feel the economic burn in November.

They are part-way through the resource consent to get a zoo licence and keep more exotic species and they are also working on sub-dividing two sections at the back of the site.

The property's current valuation is $1.4 million, but when the subdivisions come through that valuation could tip $3.7m.

The Patersons hope a last-minute offer will save the park, either by taking on the property as a whole or investing the amount of the debt in exchange for the subdivided sections.

Mr Paterson said: "We've exhausted all avenues. Three years ago we were offered $1m for it, but we wanted to build something for Tauranga.

"There's been many tears shed in the last few months. As times have gone on it's got worse and worse. If we end up with nothing we're going to have to home some of the animals."

But his wife was more adamant about their future after the mortgagee auction.

"I'll live in a container as long as I've got my family."

After next Thursday's auction the Patersons will try to keep the park open for as long as possible until the September 12 settlement.

Link: http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3780970&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Im so sorry Mark, Mystic and I are here for you and Caroline! :( Hold your head up dude - you have helped many here, maybe if we rally together we can find a way to help you and the Park? I would HATE to see all your work go down just like that!

"I'll live in a container as long as I've got my family."

"I'll miss 14 years of creating life, then someone will destroy it with a bulldozer," she said through tears.

"It's not just the land, but we've created a home for all these animals. It's so sad. We don't know where we're going to go. These animals are our family and we're responsible for them. I stay up until 1am because I don't want the next day to come."

:cry:

Lucid

http://www.livingartwildlifepark.co.nz/

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There has been a thought of maybe getting an extention on the date to give a bit of time to get some funds together, like Fundraising, Donations etc? Maybe some Volunteer helpers etc? Maybe some sort of Petition we can sign to help?

Lucid

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OMG!! :o:o

Mark Im so sorry to hear this and wish there was something I could do to help.

I have never been to your park but It was definatley something I was planning next time I visit Tauranga. Such a shame too lose it.

I really dont know what else to say.

My heart goes out to you and your family.

Simon :cry:

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Hi Guys,

These are all great ideas.

Mark apart from the obvious dollars, what else do you need?

Do you have an addy we can send stuff to?

Happy to help but what is it best that you need help with

Navarre

Ps Ill look after your reptiles for ya if you like...no charge

LOl :wink:

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hrm, dont know what to do, but im definately going to visit this wildlife sanctuary mark and his wife created. simply out of respect and being a fellow animal lover. i hope things work out, who knows, maybe some nice chap will purchase it and ask you to keep on running it... :-?

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You are quick off the draw guys, only just saw the paper myself

I have been trying to write a post on this for a few days now, didn’t know how to word it

Came on here to post about the situation and see I’ve been beaten to the gun

Auction is next Thursday, we have been living a nightmare and fighting to find a solution to this since last November, but have been caught up in the collapse of finance companies in N.Z., rise in costs and general downturn in economy.

No lenders would finance a zoo or wildlife park but they would finance a subdivision

The finance company has been good up till now but i think they maybe in trouble so have put the big squeeze on us

We may need some help housing some big fish and big tanks, anybody able to offer help please pm

We have started process to subdivide and lower debt but will take another 6 weeks and the finance company won’t wait that long, we have a bank offer to lend us money but approval for subdivision from council is needed before bank advancing monies. And the wheels of commerce and consultants grind slowly

We have spent money on chasing the zoo consent and are so close to achieving this, estimated costs by consultants just kept on blowing out the further we got into it

Sadly we maybe should have concentrated on the commercial aspect of this project rather than the caring for injured and unwanted animals, but the only one good at hindsight is a Stag

Thanks to you all, the words you have expressed mean a lot, maybe more than you imagine.

Don’t know if I can post this address, remove please if needed, the park is at 9 Nature Place, Pyes Pa, Tauranga 3112 for those who want to know it.

Whatever happens livingart will still be part of these forums and we will still be looking after animals and fish etc

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Mark having met you and hearing first hand how much love and work you have put in to your park this brings tears to my eyes...

you and your wife are the kind of people that give me hope when I hear about abandoned animals and animal abuse.

While I cant offer a home to any of the animals at the moment I will happly help in trying to find them new homes. And if you need a bed there is room here for you.

Let me know the price of a bag of feed and I will happly chip in. I know with the rising cost in feed its hitting pockets hard..

Sending my love

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thank you everyone

david my kidneys are good just the heart muscles that are damaged :D

thank you for the offers of rehousing fish that have come in i have returned most so far

if anyone wants to buy 7 acres in the city of tauranga give us a yell

we want to keep the rest though :D

this just goes to show that animal/fish lovers have good hearts

thanks again, mark

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Every bit of help is going to help people. Im surprised that there hasnt been more offers to help? Even just a small amount of money, a small amount of food, offers to help at the Park?

Wish we were there to help! Must be SOMETHING that can be done! :cry:

We have big fish and tanks, and M has owned many many Reptiles and different and common animals so we can try to help there, or anywhere for that fact! Its worth every bit of heart put into it! Whether it be long term or short, we want to help anyway we can. :bow:

B

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