This Valentine’s Day Fota Wildlife Park is calling on the public to lend a hand to two young romantics.
Santiago the Visayan warty pig arrived at the zoo at the end of last summer and was soon followed by a female friend towards the end of last year.
However his star-crossed lover has not yet been given a name and Fota wants the public to come up with suggestions for her to help the couple out.
Staff are hoping the public will provide a spark to the romance of the endangered pigs this Valentine’s Day.
The new residents to the park are currently living next to the Columbian Spider Monkeys and are set to move into their permanent home at the Asian Sanctuary in 2014.
Suggestions for a name can be made here
‘Of great importance to survival’
Marketing Director of Fota Wildlife Park is Stephen Ryan.
He hopes the public understand how significant their arrival is, saying “having the two Visayan Warty Pigs here is of great importance to the survival of this species and we are one of several International institutions helping to prevent its numbers declining to the point of extinction”.
The Visayan Warty Pigs are a very threatened species due to habitat loss, food shortages and hunting.
He says they have already had a few suggestions – and that the warty pigs are proof that love is blind.
Image: Neil Danton Photography
