Getting up close with all the residents of Fota
The operators and residents of one of the country’s top attractions are hoping for a speedy return to business
FOTA Island Wildlife Park is waiting to emerge from its extended Covid-19 hibernation with a licence to thrill animal lovers again.
Closed since March 24 and faced with a weekly food bill of €30,000 for its 1,500 animals, Fota is fighting for the oxygen of business.
After losing the income of 100,000 visitors through enforced closures through the Easter holiday and this May Bank holiday weekend, Fota is feeling the pinch.
‘We need the public support to keep the park going, as that allows us to provide the required care for the animals,’ says Seán McKeown, the park’s director.
Overlooking Cork Harbour, Fota is a haven for wildlife with five tigers, eight lions, 16 giraffes and 20 cheetahs within its leafy 100-acre enclosures, complete with 7km of natural footpath. It is on a verdant site almost half as big again as Dublin Zoo.
‘We can control numbers, unlike parks or beaches’
Mr McKeown and his team are keeping busy, welcoming a rare newborn European bison into the fold this month. The result of a public competition to name two baby black spider monkeys will be known shortly.
With longer daylight hours stretching ahead, Mr McKeown feels Fota can reopen while observing the required health and safety precautions. The Government’s roadmap, published on Friday, indicates that outdoor public amenities can open on May 18.
‘We’re eager to go,’ he said. ‘We’re outdoors, we’ve a large area of pathways and we can control the numbers and the routes to ensure social distancing is observed. Our playground won’t open, our train won’t run and the Tropical House will stay closed.
‘We can control numbers, unlike national parks or beaches. Visitors will be directed to an online booking system so we can regulate the flow of visitors. We can have 1,000 visitors in the park and you wouldn’t notice them.’
Once lockdown is over, Fota will open an hour earlier at 9am and will close an hour later at 7pm.
‘Ideally, we’d open up again in the middle of May,’ said Mr McKeown. ‘If we don’t open until September we’ll have lost almost €3m in income.’
Fota Island staged the Irish Open golf championship in 2014, while Martin O’Neill and the Irish football squad stayed there in 2016 prior to the European Championships.
The Wildlife Park, which opened in 1983, offers education on ecology and conservation to 18,000 students a year. It operates as a not-for-profit charity and drew in over 425,000 visitors last year, just outside the top 10 paid attractions in Ireland.