Fota Wildlife Park, Wildlife park in Carrigtwohill, County Cork, Ireland
Fota Wildlife Park is a 100-acre (40 ha) wildlife park on Fota Island near Carrigtwohill, County Cork. Some animals, including ring-tailed lemurs and wallabies, roam freely among visitors, while giraffes and bison occupy paddocks whose barriers are designed to be unobtrusive. The park holds nearly 30 mammal and 50 bird species, among them red pandas, tapirs and siamang gibbons.
Fota Island belonged to the Smith-Barry family, descendants of Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century, until the estate was sold to University College Cork in 1975. In 1979 the director of Dublin Zoo proposed a wildlife park to the Zoological Society of Ireland, and Fota was chosen; the university supplied the land under a licence. The first animals arrived in late 1982, and President Patrick Hillery opened the park in summer 1983.
The park runs the European Endangered Species Programme for the Sudan cheetah and keeps the European Studbook for Kafue and red lechwe. Its education centre teaches ecology and conservation to about 15,000 primary and secondary students each year and holds summer camps during school holidays.
The park lies on Fota Island near Carrigtwohill, about 10 km east of Cork city, and is reached by train to Fota station, a short walk from the entrance. Paths cross open ground where lemurs and wallabies roam, so keep to the marked routes and wear shoes that cope with rain.
Ring-tailed lemurs and squirrel monkeys move freely in certain areas of the park, creating unusually close encounters with these primates. This closeness is not possible in most traditional zoos.
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