The Zoo fundraiser was a hoax

The Zoo Northwest Florida falls for a fundraising scam involving fake plans for celebrity visits and performances at the Zoo. The Zoo had planned this fundraiser for close to a year and it was to be their major fundraiser for this year. Finding out the fundraiser was a hoax has put them in a bit of a budget bind.

“This was our primary fundraiser. What really hurt us wasn’t the planning involved, but the amount we were hoping to raise was factored into our operating budget. We had hoped for a profit of around 150,000 dollars,” says Danyelle Lantz who is the Executive Director for the Zoo.

The faux event was planned for August 9 and included exclusive tickets to performances by Disney’s “High School Musical” cast members. Also slated for the fundraiser was autograph sessions with Disney stars Zac Efron and Drew Seeley. Lantz was scheduled for a news conference on Wednesday with stars and corporate representatives from Disney to announce the fundraiser. “

Zoo management learned of the hoax on Monday. Lantz says the planning for the event began a year ago, before she came onboard as the Director.

“Management was approached last year before I was here, by someone posing as a representative of Zac Efron, a member of the cast of Disney's 'High School Musical,' and Drew Seeley, a performer associated with various Disney Channel albums and programs and the Disney Corporation. There was a lot of excitement about the event and it was played up quite a bit. When I came onboard, I tried to quell some of the rumors and excitement until I could confirm this was actually going to happen,” says Lantz. “The hoax was elaborate. There were emails, documents, conference calls, and a lot of planning that seemed legitimate. On Monday, I received a suspicious email telling me there was a contract issue and that I needed to postpone the news conference that was scheduled regarding the event and to suspend all ticket sales.

In this email, I was able to obtain an additional contact and I called on Monday night. Through that telephone call, I was able to obtain the numbers of the managers of the Disney stars. I called them on Tuesday morning and the managers told me the stars were scheduled on movie sets and other engagements and that in fact, they had no idea they were being misrepresented or that their identities were being used in the planned event.”

Lantz says Zoo management knows the identity of the person who orchestrated the elaborate hoax and they have plans to pursue legal remedies.

“We are working with the legal team for the Zoological Society, Mark Proctor of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner, and Proctor Law Firm is the attorney who is working with us on evaluating what legal recourse we have for the situation. We plan to pursue everything we can legally,” says Lantz.

She says the Zoo is actually in the same financial situation it was in last month.

“Because of the economy, the Zoo has experienced a 20 percent drop in visitors. We are definitely in a financial crisis, but I’m not sure exactly where we stand on the budget [in regards to the faked event], we are having an emergency board meeting and that [finance] is going to be discussed,” said Lantz. “We are okay today and tomorrow. We were able to make payroll today and to feed the animals. As long as people continue to come to the Zoo, we will be okay.”

“We are already running on a thin crew of employees and we are unsure if there will be future staffing changes at this time; however I do want to say that staffing reduction would be a last resort. We do not want to lose any employees.”

Lantz says the Zoo’s financial future depends on the public.

“We have a goal of raising two million dollars to get out of debt. The hoax fundraiser was just one part of the plans to meet the goal. We have several fundraisers scheduled in the future. We have the ‘Feast with a Beast’ event planned for September 19. There are still sponsorships available for that event as well as opportunities for restaurants to come onboard for the event. We also have ‘Phun fest’ planned for September 26-27. The Florida Parrotheads and the Emerald Coast Parrotheads [a non-profit group established to promote social and civic activities centered around the tropical spirit of Jimmy Buffett's music] are sponsoring this event. The event is a two-day music festival to be held in Navarre.”

Lantz says one of the best ways for the public to help the Zoo is to come enjoy the animals and the exhibits.

“An annual family membership is only $75 for parents and children. Grandparents can be added to the pass for only $10 more dollars. The pass gives you unlimited entrance to the Zoo for the entire year. A pass including unlimited entrance plus unlimited train rides is $150 annually. With the rising cost of traveling, area families should seriously consider including a visit to the Zoo in their vacation plans,” says Lantz. She also says the public should let their local officials know about the importance of the Zoo. “Let your representatives know, the Zoo can never have long-term survival without governmental involvement of some kind.”