As part of a 27 acre expansion of the park, plans have been lodged to bring in giant pandas! The wildlife park has also confirmed plans to secure two giant pandas and will be using Cork’s twinning relationship with Shanghai to strengthen its case. Senior government officials have already been brought on board to support the campaign. As well as Sumatran tigers, it is planned to introduce Asian lion, Indian rhinos, Japanese cranes, Takin and Asian bears, if the plans to bring pandas to Cork are unsuccessful. Evening Echo — Panda plans for Fota Wildlife Park Panda-monium as Fota plans ?6m facelift - Independent.ie
This sounds a little far-fetched/ambitious, but would it be (financially) viable? As far as I know Fota, Cork excepted, is a long way from large population groupings (about 150 miles from Dublin?). Is there anywhere outside China that holds Giant Pandas which is so "remote"?
Sorry to seem so sceptical, but just where is the capital coming from? Bristol have had to drastically scale back their short-term ambitions for NWCP, and as Shorts has pointed out, Fota is a bit off the beaten track to ever generate a particularly big attendance. Hope I'm wrong, but I do wonder.
Hang on, isn't this the place that says on its website that they don't have larger cats than cheetahs due to the high cost of maintaining them? And they want to play the panda game?
I can't help but be doubtful too. Dublin seems to go from strength to strength and is a very exciting zoo in my opinion despite difficult times for Ireland. But Fota? I'm not convinced.
Fotas attendance figures are increasing significantly every year as are Dublins! Cork has a very big tourist industry in Ireland also! So I'm not as doubtful! It's a very nice collection with exciting extensions plans! I wish them well!
Could be some connection here? There is lots of investment properties such as this going for a song in the near bankrupt irish state. This beautiful golf course cost 90 million to develop and is now selling for about 20 mil. Chinese mogul to snap up Fota Island for ?20m | Irish Examiner
Never mind the pandas, it could be saola or the rare "gibbon ape". excerpt from newspaper interview below and link to full article. “The new area will feature animals from Asia where some species are under threat. We are looking at larger vertebrates, such as the gibbon ape, or the saola, a rare, forest-dwelling antelope which was discovered in Vietnam in the Eighties. Others we would hope to protect include the Sumatran tiger, Indian Rhino and Asian lion.” Evening Echo — Tigers, lions and rhinos set for Fota
this sounds like those plans zoo people come up with where they are basically throwing darts at a list of animal names. "Giant panda, yeah let's get them. What's that thing? Saola? What the heck is that? A rare antelope? Cool, we'll get that one too."
I think a PR person and a journalist or two may have overdone their celebration of St Patrick's Day. Or perhaps they got confused and decided to celebrate April 1st at the same time Alan
The clue is "gibbon ape", as no half decent zoo spokesman would use such a term. I would guess that the journalist got his/her notes from the interview mixed up when writing up for publication. Fota is involved with in situ conservation projects in vietnam which include Saola and other very rare species and these projects were probably mentioned by the interviewee.
yes, to be fair the article didn't say they were planning on getting saola, just that they were a rare species of Asian animal.
Yes it does. It says 'we are looking at larger vertebrates, including the 'gibbon ape' and the Saola, a rare forest -dwelling' etc. indicating these would be considered among species for the new 27 acre development. I sincerely hope its all journalistic license though- Saola haven't been kept in captivity successfully yet in their own climate, let alone in damp chilly Ireland. I seem to remember 'Gibbon Apes' already there when I went some years ago. But Saolas apart, these plans mean this could become a major collection as its in a very pleasant location and very close to Cork.
