My day as a Fota Wildlife Park ranger

Covid threatened its future as visitor numbers plummeted. But with the gates back open again, what’s it like behind the scenes at one of Cork's biggest tourist attractions? Martha Brennan grabs a uniform and joins the team for day, from shovelling out the rhino enclosure, to entering a real lions' den - plus she hears how the giraffes are coping with keepers in face masks

Our reporter, Martha Brennan, feeding Jamil, one of the rhinos at Fota Wildlife park. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

After months of lockdown, Fota Wildlife Park faced a risk of permanent closure.

Almost all — 95% — of Fota’s operating costs are reliant on gate receipts, annual pass sales and gift shop revenues. In the first three months of 2021, visitor numbers were reduced to a little over 3,000. In an average year in the same three-month time frame, that figure would have been over 40,000. The situation was dire, with running costs still clocking up at €380,000 a month.