The opening yesterday of a new cheetah run to create a more natural feeding environment has been hailed as the first step in a 15-year phase of development at Fota Wildlife Park in Co Cork.
The director of Fota Wildlife Park, Neil Stronach, said the new run had an electronically operated feeding system which would allow the cheetahs to chase after their food in a manner similar to how they feed in the wild.
"The device basically involves strips of meat being attached overhead to a line that runs the length of the cheetah enclosure and the cheetahs can chase after the meat as they would chase their prey in the wild," said Dr Stronach.
"Cheetahs are naturally extremely fast and fit cats and they can now be seen doing what they do best with the introduction of our new cheetah run. We know it will make the cheetahs happier and we know it will make our visitors happier too to see them up and running."
Fota Wildlife Park began breeding cheetahs in 1984 and is one of the world's leading breeders of cheetahs.
Some 181 cheetahs have been born at the wildlife park since the breeding programme began. Cheetahs are an endangered species because of loss of habitat and prey.
It is now estimated that numbers have dropped from about 100,000 cheetahs in 44 countries in 1900, to an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 today in just over 20 countries.
The new cheetah enclosure at Fota is home to 17 of the cats. The feeding device was developed with the assistance of O'Flynn Construction. Dr Stronach said it offered a fine example of how the business sector can help develop the wildlife park.
"Fota Wildlife Park is a very important and popular institution here in Cork and this new enclosure spearheads the start of a new 15-year phase of development," he said. "It also offers a great example of how businesses can contribute to this development."