Construction to begin on Fota Wildlife Park's ambitious €5m conservation and visitor project
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Construction is set to start next month on a new €5m ‘Education, Conservation and Research Centre’ at Fota Wildlife Park in Co. Cork and it should be completed to coincide next year with the 40th anniversary of the park’s opening.
The new facility will be created at one of the former entrance gate buildings that many people of a certain generation will remember fondly when the park first opened, with just a few species compared to the variety it now boasts.
Fota Wildlife Park director Sean McKeown said management hope the new centre will attract around 30,000 Leaving and Junior Certificate students each year, instilling knowledge among upcoming generations about the vital need for increasing the sustainability of the planet’s diverse wildlife.
“There are one million species under threat in the wild,” Mr McKeown said.
The park has been to the forefront of protecting and enhancing breeding for some of the most endangered species on the planet, shipping many creatures to other zoos for mating and releasing more into areas where they've become virtually extinct.
The wildlife park is currently preparing to send a female Sumatran tiger to the West Midlands Safari Park for breeding and hoping shortly to get a replacement male Asiatic lion for one which unfortunately died of kidney failure. This species of lion is also endangered in the wild.
Mr McKeown said the park hopes to add Asiatic bears to its collection of animals. In addition, it is also seeking to bring in Bongo or Sable Antelopes. It currently has more than 120 species.
“A new house is also planned for the Siamang gibbons who are native to Malaysia and Sumatra,” Mr McKeown said.
Plans for the park also include a new restaurant and indoor interpretive centre, which are expected to be constructed in 2024/2025.
The current dining facilities are limited and inadequate for the footfall. The new dining area, which will be able to accommodate around 600 people, will be built overlooking the tiger compound and the proposed Asiatic bear enclosure.
The restaurant will be on the first floor and underneath it will be an area called the 'Origins Project' which will be an interpretive centre detailing the post-glacial colonisation of ancient wildlife, such as giant Irish deer.
It will also include some details about a recent archaeological excavation at the wildlife park which uncovered a human settlement dating back to the 7th century.