What’s in a name?

Get your thinking caps on, Fota Wildlife Park is asking for your help!

Having recently announced the birth of three northern Cheetah cubs to mother Gráinne and father Sam, Fota is now asking for name suggestions from the public for the three cubs.

All three were born on St Patrick’s Day, with the name Paddy perhaps a front-runner for one of the cubs! Name ideas can be posted at fotawildlife.ie/blog and those who enter will be in with a chance to win one of three year-long annual passes.

Fota Wildlife Park, which is now operating a pre-booking online system to comply with social distancing requirements, lost over €1.2 million in income during the Covid closure and faces a monthly bill of over €30,000 in feeding costs alone.

Director Sean McKeown said: “We are delighted to announce the birth of these cheetah cubs and we are also very happy to report that public and visitor feedback since re-opening has been very positive. Of course, public health, safety and adhering to the Covid-19 prevention advice is paramount here, therefore it is great to hear the positive feedback from the public.”

He continued: “An important part of our mission is to operate breeding programmes for endangered species worldwide. Some of the world’s most endangered species reside here such as the Indian rhino, Asian lion and Sumatran tiger who are all participating in the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) run species management programmes. Gate receipts, entry tickets and membership sales provide the vast portion of our income which allows us to continue our conservation work and education programmes on the need to conserve our global biodiversity.”

Fota Wildlife Park is open daily from 9am to last entry 4.30pm.