Nenagh photographer finishes as runner-up in Fota Wildlife competition for rare species snap

Fota Wildlife Park last week announced the winners of the annual photography competition, with a Tipperary winner now featuring in the 2024 Fota Wildlife Park calendar after winning runner-up in one of the categories.

Eoin Kelly from Nenagh came in as runner-up in the Best Photo by a Professional Photographer category for his snap of the Black and white Colobus Monkey.

Sean McKeown, Director of Fota Wildlife Park, said, "We were delighted to run the hugely popular photography competition in search of the images that would make up the 2024 calendar.

“Again, we were thrilled with the popularity of the competition; we received nearly 350 entrants and had a tough time choosing a shortlist as the standard was excellent.

"This year, we included a new category, Native Species at Fota, as we feel that this complements our 40th anniversary, which we celebrated in June 2023, highlighting four decades of conservation in action. The future of conservation for Fota Wildlife Park will focus firmly on our native species.

"We work closely with the National Parks and Wildlife Service on projects to save endangered species such as the natterjack toad, the corncrake, and the curlew, and we felt it was apt to feature our extraordinary resident biodiversity in the images representing 2024.

"We hope that you will enjoy this beautiful collection of images, currently making up our 2024 calendar, which is a that are inspired by the diversity of the natural world and one that features some of the 108 species in Fota Wildlife Park, including some of the 75 species at Fota that are in danger of extinction.

The winning and runner-up photographs are featured in the 2024 Fota Wildlife Park calendar, available now in the Serengeti Gift Shop or online at www.fotawildlife.ie/shop.