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Duped by Disney?
By admin | July 3, 2008
The Zoo Northwest Florida reached out for help when they were close to financial ruin, and the community responded by raising $1 million and knocking off a third of their debt. But Executive Director Danyelle Lantz says one person who promised financial aid didn’t deliver, instead she says he stole the one thing this little zoo had in abundance: trust.
Lantz says a man in his 20s approached them, one year ago, saying he owned a production company affiliated with the Disney Channel and could arrange for cast members of Disney’s High School Musical to visit the zoo for a day; promising their presence would mean big money for a zoo in need.
Lantz says they were skeptical at first, but after checking out what appeared to be legitimate contracts, they agreed. The zoo started advertising “The stars from Disney’s High School Musical were coming,” and they sold tickets. In less than a week, they raised $8,000 only to discover this man wasn’t who he claimed to be.
“He took away our hope, because that’s really what this was,” Lantz said. “This was gonna give us money to get through the winter.”
Lantz called some agents connected with High School Musical to confirm the date, but they told her they didn’t know anything about the zoo, or this mysterious man. They also said none of their cast members would be attending.
Now the zoo, already in need of so much money, must reimburse every person who bought a ticket, while authorities track down the person responsible for hurting 1,300 animals and all of the people who love them.
Zoo officials say they want to treat this man with more respect then he showed them, so they are not releasing his name. They are pursuing legal action.
(Source: NBC 15)
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