Helping Metro Richmond Zoo recover after a deadly and devastating fire

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Rob Cardwell visited the Metro Richmond Zoo in Chesterfield County to get an update on the zoo's post-fire rebuild from zoo director Jim Andelin.

One animal was killed and several buildings were damaged in the June 4 fire.

"We cleared all the debris. There were many container loads. Hundreds of volunteers came in and helped us do that. That was really the difficult part," Andelin said. "Now we're starting to rebuild. We're taking our shop and making it a little bit bigger. Our keeper area, our food prep area. Since we have to rebuild, we're going to make it nicer."

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Andelin lives on the zoo property and was the first person to discover the fire, the cause of which remains under investigation.

"The first thing I thought is I got to put this fire out. But then I realized there was no hope with a garden hose. And so I then said, Oh, I gotta get the animals out," he said. "So I started running into buildings and pulling animals out because that was important."

While the loss of the animal was tragic and the damage extensive, Andelin said it could have been a lot worse.

"I think of what could have happened. I mean, the fire department was incredible," he said. "We have at the end of this building gas tanks, diesel tanks, four huge propane tanks and that would have leveled the area."

After getting the rebuild update, Cardwell presented Andelin with a gift from CBS 6 Gives and Virginia Credit Union.

"CBS 6 has been a longtime partner with you. We've done stories recently on teaching an orangutan how to breastfeed, we've monitored the cheetah babies for so long, and so many other wonderful things you've done here for the animals, along with our partners at Virginia Credit Union. I know it's going to be an expensive, long process to repair all this. And as part of our CBS 6 Goves, we wanted to give this gift to you to help pay a little bit of the big cost it's going to take to rebuild all this stuff."

The zoo remains open as the investigation into the fire continues.

In the meantime, Andelin offered the following actions people can take to help the zoo at this time:

1. Visit the Zoo: Come see us! The zoo and all exhibits are fully open.
2. Wish List: We’ve created an Amazon wish list of items we need.
3. Donate: You can visit our online store to donate directly to the zoo.
4. Volunteer: Complete this form if you are willing to help clean up at the zoo. We will contact you as the need arises. While the investigation is still going on, the amount of cleanup we can do right now is limited.
   

CBS 6 Gives is made possible by Virginia Credit Union. Have an idea about who we should surprise next, click here to email our team.