The community gathered at the Little Ponderosa Zoo Saturday to remember the animals that died in the fire on December 4, 2017.

“We’re just going to show our respect,” said James Cox, the founder of the Little Ponderosa Zoo. “We’ve got a lot of people coming that love the animals that we lost. They are all buried here on site. It’s a sad day but it’s part of it. We need to do this.”

Randy Boyd, who is running for governor and is the founder of Petsafe, came to show his support for the zoo.

“Ponderosa Zoo does wonders for saving animals all across our country, said Boyd. “They do so much great outreach and it’s an organization that we wanted to support. My company Petsafe decided to help support them in their build up of the zoo and restoring it and I’m hoping others will join us in doing so.”

Cox says they will need more help and donations to rebuild and to replace caging and fencing. Cox says the goal is to reach at least $200,000 by Sunday.

“We’re going to have to go into phase two,” said Cox. We’re going to need more funding because we’re looking at several hundred thousands dollars to build back.”

Cox says they are going to build back better and safer.

“We want to do whatever we can to keep something like this from happening again,” said Cox. “The architect know that and he’s taking care of all of that.”

To donate to the Little Ponderosa Zoo go to their website.