An 81 year old South African who owns a much-loved tourist attraction in Hout Bay was robbed over the weekend but the community are coming to his rescue!
Walter Mangold (81 years old), the owner of World of Birds, was tied up and robbed of R70,000 this past weekend but the community are coming to his rescue.
World of Birds is a well-loved tourist attraction in Hout Bay but it was sadly targeted by armed robbers over the weekend. The robbers tied up Walter before running off with R70 000 in stolen cash. The World of Birds has been struggling financially but has continued to treat injured birds and wildlife free of charge.
World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary is a privately run wildlife park that provides sanctuary for 2000 permanently injured birds and small mammals.
“We offer this service for free to the greater Cape Town area and have been doing this for the past 40 years. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to do this on our own and are appealing to the public for support.”
Prior to the armed robbery, the sanctuary had started a crowdfund to help them out of their financial situation. Since the news of the armed robbery broke, the crowdfunding page has received an influx of donations. Thousands of rands have been raised since yesterday and the amount just keeps growing with every minute passed.
The funds will not only help replace the massive loss they faced over the weekend, it will help float the business just before the busy season starts, which is but a mere week away.
People have been deeply moved to make a difference and the fund is about to hit the 50% mark, something we know will happen at any moment today.
You can donate to the fund here.