  fota wildlife park is a  wildlife park located on fota island, near carrigtwohill, county cork, ireland. the park is home to nearly 30 mammal and 50 bird species. some of the animals roam freely with the visitors, such as the ring-tailed lemurs and squirrel monkeys, while larger animals, including the giraffe and bison, live in paddocks with unobtrusive barriers to allow viewing the animals in a more natural environment. fota wildlife park also has red pandas, tapirs, siamang gibbons and many other types of animals. ==history== fota island was the former home of the smith-barry family, descendants of normans who came to ireland in 1185.fota house in those days the familyâs lands were very extensive but they dwindled over the years until they were restricted to fota island. the estate was sold to university college cork in 1975. in the meantime, dublin zoo had reached maximum development with the space available. so in 1979, the director of dublin zoo proposed to the zoological society of ireland council that a wildlife park should be established. it was thought that it should be quite different in concept from a conventional zoo or safari park. it was then that fota island was proposed. that same year it was formally agreed that the society would establish a wildlife park on  at fota. university college cork offered the land free of charge under license agreement. fota wildlife park became a joint project of the zoological society of ireland and university college cork. fundraising committees were set up in both dublin and cork. all the funds for the development were raised from public subscriptions, apart from a grant from bord fÃ¡ilte for the perimeter fence. the first animals started to arrive to fota wildlife park in late 1982, and fota wildlife park was opened in the summer of 1983 by the then president of ireland, dr. patrick hillery. fota wildlife park celebrated its 30th anniversary with a party on 22 june 2013. ==list of animals== the animals and birds at fota wildlife park originate from a variety of habitats, most of which are threatened with degradation through human activity. below is the list of these habitats and their associated animals at fota wildlife park: thumb|zebra and foal at fota wildlife park ;hot deserts *scimitar-horned oryx ;tempe
1983_establishments_in_Ireland Visitor_attractions_in_County_Cork Zoos_established_in_1983 Zoos_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland