Alyssa’s Animal Sanctuary Needs Your Help

A fundraiser will be held Wednesday, May 4 to benefit Alyssa's Animal Sanctuary, which must find a new home for its menagerie of abandoned animals. 

The nonprofit is a safe haven for abandoned, abused or neglected animals, including farm animals, while also offering community fun and educational activities on a 2.5-acre parcel along Laakso Lane. Collier County recently notified the founders, Alyssa Barry and Kevin Dinger, that the animals must be removed within 30 days. Zoning regulations that require some of the animals, such as non-native species, to be kept on a tract of at least 20 acres was the reason cited by the county’s Code Enforcement Division, said Barry.

 The charity event will be held from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Marco Island Authentics clothing store in Marco Town Center. The store is located at 1089 Collier Boulevard, Unit 420, just a few doors from the Marco Island Brewery.

Fundraiser highlights will include games, raffles, live music by Ferguson and Rogers and an auction featuring gift certificates, art work by Malinda Trick, Joey Waves and other Marco artists. The Marco Island Brewery will set up an outdoor bar for the event. Dave Shealy, known as the Skunk Ape King of the Everglades will be there with merchandise, as will Venice-based python hunter and Discovery Channel star Dustin “The Wildman” Crum. There will also be a box for on-site donations. 

Barry and Dinger’s goal is to raise $2 million to purchase a vacant, 20-acre parcel located on Sanctuary Road, near the Collier County Fairgrounds, finance moving the roughly 100 animals and constructing housing for them. The purchase price for the land is $1.3 million.

“We’re hoping to have a good turnout and raise a lot of money for them,” said Larry Clark, who co-owns Marco Island Authentics. “Every little bit helps.”

For more information about Alyssa’s Animal Sanctuary, visit alyssasanimalsanctuary.org/ or call 304-6412.