Fota Wildlife Park opened to the public in June 1983 and celebrated four decades of Conservation in Action in 2023 by completing the sustainably built, Education, Conservation and Research Centre, co-funded by the Government via the OPW.

Fota Wildlife Park’s vision is to inspire people to understand and conserve the biodiversity of our natural world. The Park’s core values of conservation, education, and research have ensured that we are uniquely placed to foster greater public understanding of the threats to plant and animal habitats and decreasing global biodiversity. Fota Wildlife Park has made considerable investment in the past 10 years upgrading its infrastructure including an indoor Giraffe viewing area, the Madagascan Village and the Asian Sanctuary which opened in 2015 and features Asian lions, Sumatran tigers, and Indian rhino.

Fota is a non-profit organisation, limited by guarantee, and is also a registered charity. Fota Wildlife Park reinvests any surplus generated yearly into capital projects and infrastructural improvements – such as flood defences and building state-of-the-art habitats for its animals.
Fota Wildlife Park also financially supports and donates vital resources to conservation projects in Ireland and abroad, such as the Irish Ladybird Research Project, the Natterjack Toad Head Starter programme, the European Life-funded Corncrake project, the Madagascan Pochard, and in Vietnam, the Tonkin Snub-nosed monkey, and the Western black crested gibbon conservation – to name a few.

• Richard Healy
• Anne Keenan
• Susie Horgan
• Sarah Culloty
• Jim Woulfe (Trustee Chairperson)
• Carmel O’Connor
• Jennifer Cashman
• Paul O’Connell
• Tom Cassin