Fota Wildlife Park | |
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51°53′28″N 8°18′25″W / 51.891°N 8.307°W | |
Date opened | June 1983 |
Location | Fota Island, County Cork, Ireland |
Land area | 100 acres (40 ha)[2] |
No. of species | 106 |
Annual visitors | 455,559 (2017)[1] |
Website | fotawildlife |
Fota Wildlife Park is a 100-acre (40 ha) wildlife park located on Fota Island, near Carrigtwohill, County Cork, Ireland. Opened in 1983, it is an independently funded, not-for-profit charity that is one of the leading tourism, wildlife and conservation attractions in Ireland. The park had an attendance of 455,559 visitors in 2017, making it the eleventh most popular paid attraction in Ireland for that year.[1]
The park is home to nearly 30 mammal and 50 bird species. Some of the animals roam freely with the visitors, such as the ring-tailed lemurs and wallabies, while larger animals, including the giraffe and bison, live in paddocks with barriers that are intended to be unobtrusive for visitors to view the animals in a more natural environment. Fota Wildlife Park also has red pandas, tapirs, siamang gibbons and other types of animals.