The park’s website reportedly went offline on Wednesday night. Despite this, the attraction will open as scheduled on Thursday, with tickets available only at on-site kiosks.

Park management has already engaged external forensic cybersecurity experts to investigate the breach and has notified both the Gardaí and the Data Protection Commissioner.

In an email sent to a customer who bought tickets online over the weekend, the park warned, “There is a risk to your financial information” and “strongly recommended” that steps be taken to protect bank accounts, including cancelling the cards used for the purchase.

The email advised customers to review their bank account activity and credit card statements dating back to May 12th for any “potential suspicious activity which may indicate that an account has been compromised.”

“We understand that this may be of significant concern to you,” Fota said in the email, “We want to assure you that we take our responsibility to protect your personal and financial information very seriously and have made this matter our top priority.”

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, Fota Wildlife Park confirmed that it had recently detected illegal cyber activity affecting its website.

“The organization’s incident response plan was immediately activated, an internal investigation was launched, and appropriate measures were taken to secure the website,” the statement read.

“The incident has been reported to the relevant authorities, and Fota Wildlife Park is cooperating fully with them. Fota Wildlife Park is in the process of contacting all potentially affected customers. Meanwhile, the park’s day-to-day operations continue as usual.”

The statement did not disclose the number of customers who may be affected by the breach.