Cork's Fota Wildlife Park a ‘very positive place’ again as visitors return

People have come out in droves to support Fota Island Wildlife Park, which has seen a 50% increase in visitor numbers compared to this time last year following its reopening after a 10-week closure.

Fota closed its gates to the public in mid-October due to a bird flu outbreak, reopening on December 20 after “a very challenging time” for the park, during which staff had to humanely euthanise more than 70 birds.

The park was formally reopened by minister of state Christopher O’Sullivan, who had recently announced additional funding from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to support the continuation of vital biodiversity conservation programmes.

Aileen Tennant, the park’s director, told The Echo the past few weeks have been a “very uplifting time”.

“Since reopening, we’ve seen about 50% more visitation than the same time period last year, which is very significant.

“Visitors and annual pass holders have really turned up in droves, it’s probably the highest figures we’ve ever seen for this time of year.

“There’s so much energy, families and regular visitors coming back and asking questions about different animals. One pass holder asked us how our little drill monkey was doing, he had developed a lot during the closure,” said Ms Tennant.

“The connection between visitors and individual animals is really remarkable, often the visitors know more about them than I do!”

Support

Ms Tennant said support is even present outside the park.

“I’ve had people spotting me around the local area and coming up to say how thrilled they are that we’re open again.”

She explained that their teams are working with their birds to ensure there is no potential risk of transmission of bird flu, but that the risk of another infection is low.

“All systems are more or less back to the way they were before, except we keep our populations of birds separate,” she said.

Ms Tennant said lots of different groups have been welcomed back to the park in the last month.

“We’re really looking forward to connecting with more schools again, as those that would usually be in all had to postpone during the closure.

“Our education team are very busy with schools, which is fantastic, a big one would be the ecology programme, giving students hands-on experience in field work.”

Staff are also focused on conservation efforts for the year ahead, with the public now able to suggest names for a baby colobus monkey through Fota’s website.

“We are hopeful for lots of success stories in our breeding and conservation programmes this year.

“People and communities are such a huge part of this work, because without them coming through the front gate, we can’t deliver the programmes,” Ms Tennant said.

“It’s a very positive place at the moment. There’s lots happening, and lots more to come this year. We’re so uplifted by the support we’ve been shown by the public and the Government.”