Co-operating for Wildlife
In 1979, the late Dr. Terry Murphy, Director of Dublin Zoo, proposed to the Society’s Council that, as Dublin Zoo had reached maximum development in the space available, they should establish a wildlife park and that it should be quite different in concept from a conventional zoo or safari park. The Council accepted the proposal as a project to mark its 150th Anniversary, and started to view sites in the Leinster area.
Prof. Tom Raftery, Vice-President of University College Cork and Director of Fota Estate (which the College had bought in 1975) became aware of the Society’s plans. He contacted Dr. Murphy and suggested that the wildlife park be located at Fota. Shortly afterwards, a delegation of Council members visited the proposed site. Amongst the visitors was Prof. John Carroll, a former President of the Society, who informed the group that he was born and reared in Fota and went to school in the small schoolhouse on the estate.
Subsequently, Prof. Raftery brought the proposal before the Governing Body of UCC where it received almost unanimous support. Likewise the proposal was well received by the Society’s Council. At a meeting in December, 1979 it was formally agreed that the Society would establish a wildlife park on 70 acres at Fota which UCC kindly offered free of charge under licence agreement. Fundraising committees were set up in Dublin and Cork, chaired by Prof. John Carroll and Mr. Clayton Love Jnr. respectively. All the funds for the development were raised from public subscriptions, apart from a grant from Bord Fáilte for the perimeter fence.
The Society’s Council accepted Dr. Murphy’s concept and design of open, natural surroundings for the animals, with no obvious barriers. During 1980 and 1981, the late Mr. Sean O’Donovan, Lecturer and Farms Manager with UCC, supervised the task of clearing the dense undergrowth, draining the swamp to form the lake with islands for the primates, and creating roads. Buildings were erected as funds became available. The first animals started to arrive in late 1982, and the Park opened in summer 1983. The park now has over 350,000 visitors per year making it the biggest tourist attraction in Cork and one of the top ten in Ireland.
