Fota celebrates 40th birthday with news of new baby giraffe

Young calf's great great grandmother was one of the first animals to arrive in the park

The baby giraffe with her mother Clodagh. Pictures: Darragh Kane

Ireland’s wildest visitor attraction has celebrated its 40th birthday by announcing the birth of a giraffe whose great great grandmother was one of the first animals to arrive in the park.

Fota Wildlife Park in Cork opened its doors to the public on June 23, 1983, and marked the milestone on Friday by celebrating its remarkable contribution to conservation, education, research, and breeding of endangered animals.

Over the last four decades, Fota has given €4m to Irish and international conservation programmes and has overseen the births of hundreds of endangered species, including 240 cheetahs, 72 Rothschild’s giraffes and 60 European bison.

It has welcomed some 12 million visitors in that time, and has seen the number of animals it cares for grow from 172, across 33 species, to 1,096, representing 109 species.

Tony O’Dwyer, the park’s head of operations for the last 20 years, began working in Fota in 1983 and is one of the park’s longest serving staff members.

“When I started, the park was obviously on a much smaller scale than it is now, and I did a bit of everything — making sure the park was litter free, I drove the visitor train, helped out with the unloading of straw and hay,” he said.

“The message at the time was we are not a zoo, we are not a wildlife park, we are a unique concept that lies in between and our main objective was to breed endangered animals.

I don’t think anyone at the time thought that it would grow into what it is today. We wondered would it take off, would people support it.

“But they did, and here we are all these years later.” 

One of the great joys of his career has been being able to work outdoors and experience the passing of the seasons through the landscape, he said.

“That stands out for me, to be at one with nature. But I have also been incredibly fortunate to work with the animals like giraffes, bison, cheetahs," he said.

“Not many people can say they’ve seen a giraffe being born, dropping 6ft to the ground and then being licked by their mother. Those moments really stand out.” 

In 1983, the Rothschild’s giraffe, along with the zebra and cheetah, were among the first animal species to come to the park.

Its latest arrival, a female Rothschild’s giraffe, was born on April 30 to mother Clodagh, aged eight, who is part of a long line of giraffes born in Fota, and father Ferdie.

Clodagh’s mother Aoife was born in the park in 2010 and her grandmother Róisín was born there in 1992.

The new arrival's great great grandmother Frisky arrived from Southampton Zoo in England in 1983 and was one of Fota's founding herd members.

The young calf is said to be a pale colour, and is already displaying similar personality characteristics to her great grandmother Róisín, who was a strong, fearless giraffe.

The park has also been home to 7,914 different animals over the years — some for a short term and some for their whole life — but the figure does not include the 7,500 Natterjack toadlets it has helped breed and released into the wild in Kerry.

To help mark Fota’s 40th, the park will host a carnival-style weekend of entertainment and games, and it has invited the public to join in.