FOTA WILDLIFE PARK in Co Cork is “actively exploring potential support options” to help with its operational costs of around €120,000 while it is closed due to a bird flu outbreak.

The Park is located on 100 acres at Fota Island, around 10 kilometres east of Cork City, and is home to 21 species of captive birds and over 100 species of animals – 75 of these animal species are at risk of extinction.

The Park has an annual attendance of around 430,000 visitors but has been closed to the public since 14 October due to confirmed cases of avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu.

It had originally been due to close for several days but this period of closure is still ongoing.

In a statement last week, the Park said it will remain closed for a “number of weeks” following a bird flu outbreak which originated from wild bird populations in the Cork Harbour area.

Eleven confirmed cases of bird flu have been identified in the Greylag Goose population.

Fota Wildlife Park has since been implementing a “comprehensive strategy” of mitigation measures.

This includes isolating the bird species in its care from the wild population and the construction of new temporary aviaries to house birds through the winter months, in order to limit the risk of further infection from wild birds.

Additionally, Fota Wildlife Park also made the “extremely difficult decision” to humanely euthanise some of its impacted Greylag Goose population.

The Park described this as a “difficult, last-resort measure” that was “necessary to prevent wider transmission and protect the Park’s rare and genetically important conservation collection”.

Aileen Tennant, Director, Fota Wildlife Park, last week remarked that it’s an “extremely difficult time for everyone”.

She added that its “pre-existing vaccination programme and robust biosecurity protocols have proven successful, with the vast majority of birds in the Park remaining healthy and showing no symptoms of illness”,

She said that while the Park is closed, its animal care team is “continuing to deliver the highest standards of care for all of the animals at Fota Wildlife Park”.

However, Fota Wildlife Park this week remarked that “being closed to the public is having a significant financial impact”.

“The costs of maintaining world-class animal care, particularly through the winter period, when heating and specialised nutrition needs increase, are considerable,” said the Park in a statement this week,

It noted that the operational costs amount to around €120,000 per week.

The spokesperson said the Park is “actively exploring a number of potential support options to help ensure our significant work in expert animal care and conservation programmes continues”.