Deja vu for Little Ray’s Nature Centres as it again calls for help post-lockdown

Little Ray's Nature Centres finds itself in the same position it was in seven months ago — reaching out for a lifeline —  and its owner is sick and tired of the situation, he says, the provincial and federal governments have put his business in.

Canada's largest exotic animal rescue agency, and a staple in the capital for the last 25 years, is worried, once again, that it might have no choice but to turn over its keys to the government for the care of its animals.

Owner Paul Goulet was in the same situation late last June, after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were eased for the first time.

At that time, he had asked for some kind of government loan that could help him pay his staff, feed his animals, and ultimately weather the affects the pandemic was having on his business.

Goulet now says a second strict lockdown has put Little Ray's in a “catastrophic position,” and he's not seeing any help coming from either government.

“For anybody out there that thinks that Doug Ford or Justin Trudeau gives a [bleep] about the businesses that have been most affected by [the pandemic] — you're crazy,” exclaims Goulet in a Facebook video. “And if you cannot tell, this [is] us trying to make money five and ten cents at a time, so I can pay my staff and feed my animals.”

Goulet is asking for the government to suspend loan and interest payments until companies can get back on their feet.

“I have invested my life into this. My staff and volunteers have been unbelievably committed to this. And we are being left out to dry under some pretend governments that pretend that they care, and do absolutely nothing to support the hardest affected sectors.”

A GoFundMe has been started for Little Ray's, with a goal of raising $840,000, which Goulet says will help keep animals housed, fed, vetted and maintained.