Jungle Island
Jungle Island along the MacArthur Causeway
|
|
| Date opened | December 20, 1936 (as Parrot Jungle) June 28, 2003 (at current location) |
|---|---|
| Location | Miami, Florida |
| Coordinates | 25°47′10″N 80°10′27″W / 25.78611°N 80.17417°WCoordinates: 25°47′10″N 80°10′27″W / 25.78611°N 80.17417°W |
| Website | www |
Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle) is an interactive zoological park in Watson Island, Miami, Florida, United States. The park is currently closed until further notice due to damage from Hurricane Irma. It was originally Parrot Jungle and moved from its original suburban Pinecrest to its present location just east of Downtown Miami renamed as Parrot Jungle Island. In 2007, the park was again renamed to Jungle Island.
Parrot Jungle was a zoological park south of Miami on 22 acres (89,000 m2) of property at Killian Drive and South Red Road.
Founded in 1936 by Franz & Louise Scherr, Parrot Jungle was one of the first tourist attractions established in the Miami area. The idea for Parrot Jungle began after Scherr, who owned and operated a feed and supply store in Homestead, became intrigued with the idea of building an attraction where birds would "fly free". Scherr leased 22 acres (89,000 m2) of hammock land for an annual fee of $25. Parrot Jungle was built as a winding nature trail dug through the coral rock and hammock land, indigenous to the area. All the natural plants were left undisturbed, the entrance was built on Red Road.
The attraction opened on December 20, 1936, to about 100 visitors, each person paid 25 cents to see and hear Scherr talk about his birds, trees and flowers. Since 1936, over a million visitors have visited Parrot Jungle. Among its many famous visitors was Sir Winston Churchill, film director Steven Spielberg, and former US President Jimmy Carter. On December 17, 2002, the Village of Pinecrest purchased the Parrot Jungle with the aim of developing the site as Pinecrest Gardens. On March 8, 2003 the Pinecrest Village Council dedicated Pinecrest Gardens and officially opened it to the public as the Village's newest municipal park, without the animals that had made the park famous. The actual attraction moved to a new waterfront location on Watson Island between Downtown Miami and South Beach. It opened on June 28, 2003 as Parrot Jungle Island.
...
Wikipedia