Animal artists put paint to canvas to raise money for new zoo after hard year

Click here for updates on this story

    Gulf Shores, AL (WALA) — Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, like many other businesses, have taken a major financial hit this year, after opening the gates to their new location just days before COVID’s spring shutdowns.

Starting today, you have a chance to help out, as the zoo puts some special artwork up for auction in their annual Art Safari Fundraiser.

Artists of all walks of life are taking their work more seriously than ever here at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo.

Their new and improved zoo opened on March 11.

Exactly one week later, COVID shutdowns forced them to lock their gates again.

The zoo lost nine weeks of one of their busiest and most profitable times of the year: Spring break season.

“It was a tough spring for us, and then Hurricane Sally came and we had to close for another ten days to clean up after that, so its been quite the challenging year for us,” said Joel Hamilton, AL Gulf Coast Zoo Director.

Hamilton says attendance is down on days they are open by 40 percent.

The annual Art Safari usually raises roughly $25,000 for the “Little Zoo that Grew.”

They are hoping that number will go up this year.

“We decided to do it virtually because we couldn’t do it live, and we went virtual to hopefully expand that audience so that people from anywhere can bid on animal art,” said Hamilton.

The Animal Art Safari kicks off Thursday night at 7 online and will go on through Sunday.

You can buy a piece of art from all different kinds of species, and they also are auctioning off some pieces from local human artists as well.

Some other items for bidding include membership packages, meals, and other things donated by local businesses.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.