COMMUNITY spirit has been shining through Storm Darragh as volunteers turned out to help Tropiquaria Zoo repair some of the worst damage it had ever suffered.

The Washford Cross zoo remained closed this week after trees were uprooted and fences blown away by the storm.

But zoo director Chris Moiser was heartened by the support from local people and businesses who responded to an appeal for help.

The support came as an online fund-raising appeal approached £7,000 to help Tropiquaria survive the winter following a summer where visitor numbers dropped off and it was hit by Government increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

Mr Moiser said in an online message to people who had been helping: “You are so much appreciated that we are finding it hard to put into words.

“We are always amazed by the community far and wide that rallies around us when times are hard, you are all truly amazing.”

He said volunteers had given a lot of help and materials had been donated, but there was still ‘some way to go’ with less urgent, but still essential, repair work to be carried out.

Mr Moiser paid particular tribute to Ryan Nunn, of Viking Construction, Watchet, who provided a borrowed mini digger to help shift some of the tree roots and put in a new fence line.

He said the zoo now needed a chainsaw and a commercial wood chipper to tackle a mountain of branches from the uprooted trees, with the wood chip then being used in the animal enclosures.

Mr Moiser said: “We are closed until Saturday when we should be fit to open back to our normal winter hours, although the park might still look a bit disheveled and the staff may look as though they have been dragged backwards through a hedge.”

An appeal via GoFundMe which aims to raise £10,000 to help Tropiquaria survive until the start of next year’s holiday season stood this week at more than £6,700.

Mr Moiser said winter operating costs were nearly £1,500 per day without factoring in the damage caused by Storm Darragh.