Construction to begin on Fota Wildlife Park's ambitious €5m conservation and visitor project

The park hopes to add Asiatic bears and Bongo or Sable Antelopes to its collection of animals

Sean McKeown, director Fota Wildlife park at the fomer entrance, which is to be developed. He hopes the new centre will attract around 30,000 Leaving and Junior Certificate students each year, instilling knowledge among upcoming generations about the vital need for increasing the sustainability of the planet’s diverse wildlife. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Construction is set to start next month on a new €5m ‘Education, Conservation and Research Centre’ at Fota Wildlife Park in Co. Cork and it should be completed to coincide next year with the 40th anniversary of the park’s opening.

The new facility will be created at one of the former entrance gate buildings that many people of a certain generation will remember fondly when the park first opened, with just a few species compared to the variety it now boasts.