Fota Wildlife Park is to get a Government funding lifeline worth €700,000 to support its conservation work for endangered Irish species.
It comes in the wake of a severe avian flu outbreak which has forced the wildlife park's temporary closure.
One of the country's most popular tourist attractions, the 100-acre wildlife park on the outskirts of Cork city has been closed since October due to an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu and had to cull 73 birds from its population.
Announcing the funding, the Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O'Sullivan, said the funding has been allocated to "secure the future of key initiatives for threatened species such as Natterjack Toad, White-clawed Crayfish, Curlew and Dunlin and corncrake".
The Wildlife Park has an annual footfall of over 430,000 per annum.
It is home to over 100 species of animals, 75 of these animal species are at risk of extinction.
Last month, it was reported that it was seeking financial supports as it is struggling to cover its 120,000 euro weekly costs while it remains closed.
Minister O'Sullivan said the closure of the wildlife park and the lack of visitors has caused a lot of difficulty.
"For that reason, my department is allocating 700,000 euro towards the park to help with the incredible conservation work that they do. So hopefully this will get them through.
"It's important that the species that they are conserving - that they are head-starting - that they can continue with that work so we can continue to try and protect and increase numbers of these species for the years to come".
Aileen Tennant, Director of Fota Wildlife Park said she welcomed the intervention from the NPWS and State during "a very challenging time".
"This financial support will secure critical investment in Ireland's biodiversity infrastructure, and allows our dedicated teams to continue with our native species work and international concervation programmes."
Among the endangered native species programmes overseen by Fota is the recovery of the Natterjack Toad.
Land reclamation and changes in agricultural practises saw the species - mainly found in Co Kerry - suffer significant losses.
Latest estimates put the current population at less than 10,000 Natterjack Toads in the wild and so it is considered to be endangered in Ireland.
Large numbers of eggs and tadpoles are typically lost in the wild every summer due to predation and pond desiccation.
But since 2016, NPWS staff collect thousands of Natterjack eggs and tadpoles from the wild which are then cared for at Fota Wildlife Park until they metamorphose and are ready to be returned to the wild.
Significant numbers of juvenile Natterjacks have been returned to the wild since this programme began in 2016 and is a significant contributor to the survival of the native toads in the wild.
Read more: 500 natterjack toads released in Co Kerry national park
