Irish Examiner view: A new Fungi for the Kingdom?

Excitement over discovery of a walrus on Valentia Island

The walrus was spotted by five-year-old Muireann Houlihan along the coast of Valentia Island, Co Kerry. Picture: Alan Houlihan/PA Wire

Tue, 16 Mar, 2021 - 08:41

Kerry has hosted, and reared, many exotic creatures over the centuries.

It has occasionally elected some of them to the highest forum in the State.

However, the discovery of a walrus on Valentia Island is, as far as anyone can tell, unprecedented.

Local man Alan Houlihan and his daughter Muireann discovered the large sea mammal, more usually a citizen of the Arctic, as they walked along the island’s Glanleam Beach on Sunday morning.

It is just one of many unusual visitors to these shores, increasingly encouraged to widen their horizons by the changes in habitat — and diet — brought by climate change.

It may be fanciful to speculate that the as-yet-unnamed walrus might make a suitable replacement for Dingle’s much-missed Fungi.

It may not be as elegant or as beguiling but if it survives its exhausting trip and shows shows any potential to fill that void, it would indeed be welcome in the Kingdom of opportunity.

Valentia Island visitor not the first 'walrus washed ashore'