He may officially be out of action with a niggling injury but there will be a Tiger Woods at Fota Island this June and beyond, albeit in a different sense to the one we all are familiar with. For I am not speaking about the famous golfer who unfortunately won’t be taking part in this years Irish Open held here at the Fota Island Resort, but rather a new attraction to Fota Island Wildlife Park, our neighbours on Fota Island who are just up the road from one of the finest luxury hotels in Cork including our award winning spa and golf resort. The Tiger Woods in this instance being literally a forest featuring actual tigers (the wild feline as opposed to record breaking golfer kind) as Fota Wildlife Park launched phase one of its €6m Asian Sanctuary extension, unveiling its new Tiger Forest complete with two new residents Denar and Dourga, two Sumatran tigers imported from zoos in Poland and France. The arrival of the two tigers in the new Tiger Forest is phase one of Fota’s massive 27-acre Asian Sanctuary expansion, an expansion that will see the parks overall size expand by 40% and will bring in visayan warty pigs, spotted deer, rhinos, Japanese cranes, Takin antelopes and Asian bears to join the parks many residents. When complete the addition of the Asian Sanctuary will make Fota Wildlife Park one of the largest wildlife parks in Europe. The addition of the tigers and the exciting plans for the near future will continue to ensure that the wildlife park along with our own five star resort is a place to visit in Cork for years to come. In the short time since it was opened last week, the new tigers have proven to be crowd pleaser’s with many visitors to Fota Island already captivated by the new Tiger Woods. And whilst some golfing fans, visiting our acclaimed golf hotel in Cork, may be a bit disappointed that it is the animal as opposed to human Tiger Woods who will feature most prominently on Fota Island this summer, the absence of one tiger shouldn’t detract from the wealth of golfing superstars available with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry and original “wild thing” golfing legend John Daly and many more set to roar into action and provide a spectacle three days of world class golfing action in this years Irish Open which takes place from the 19th-22nd June, less than two weeks time. So whilst one half of Fota Island is set to do without one famous Tiger Woods for this years running of the Irish Open (the list of confirmed golfing superstars taking part are bound to satisfy the most ardent golfing fans), on the other side of the Cork based island a new Tiger Woods looks set to be a permanent star attraction for years to come. And with Fota Island Cork Golf Club back on the map as a premier international golfing stage, it won’t be long until Tiger Woods the famous golfer competes with Tiger Woods the new star attraction of Fota Wildlife Park for public affection.
