Animal parks and zoos are supposed to be a source of happiness and entertainment. Ideally, they’re places for people to be educated and enriched, witnessing animal species they normally would not encounter. It doesn’t always work out that way, however.Lack of funding, opposition by activists, and severity of elements are all reasons that animal parks have closed. The once-thriving locales are left empty, their structures and cages abandoned and overgrown.
1 Sở thú Groote Schuur
Imagine if you were given a few lions and newspapers. What will you do with them? If you are Cecil John Rhodes, you will create a zoo to feed them.
In 1897 Rhodes created a private zoo in Cape Town, South Africa, for his big cats, as well as other animals that he received as gifts throughout the years. After his death, the state inherited the estate of Rhodes and his animal collection. The new fence was constructed and the venue was called the Groote Schuur Zoo. Lions, mountain goats, crocodiles and other animals are kept inside, and the zoo becomes a popular attraction.
The Lions will always be the focus of the zoo, however, the prominent position and the best fence at the rear of the zoo. The zoo staff George Booker was famous in the zoo because of the special connection with the Lions, which can fill their stables and feed them by hand and even catch them for the guests. Ironically, he died when he had tetanus after being bitten by a lion in his fingers.
Between 1975 and 1985, the zoo is closed due to an increase in animal welfare standards and financial problems, but people can still wander on campus, see the ruins of the concrete tanks, take pictures with the cement lion statues , and see the famous Lion Guard fence.
One interesting thing, a Himalayan goat, escaped to the Table Mountain and the breeding of a large herd, and remained a herd of goats in the mountains, although they were considered a pest on the area, and measures were made of population control, keeping the legacy of Rhodes alive.
2 Warner Brothers Jungle Habitat
One would think that an animal park operated by the Warner brothers would be successful immediately, but the attacks, escapes and objections of the locals will ultimately lead to the park being closed only after four years since it's opening.
Designed into two parts, Jungle Habitat contains a zoo that families can walk, including pet gardens, reptile houses, camel rides and snack areas, as well as a safari area that they can drive through. The safari area has elephants, llamas, lions and free tigers, giving you a close-up view of the animals as they often stop alongside the cars and sometimes even climb on them.
Shortly after the park opened in 1972, an Isreali traveler was attacked by two lions after he got his hands off the car window and taunted them when driving through the park's safari attraction. The two wolves escaped and wandered into the local town of West Milford, New Jersey. A local television host was scratched by a six-month-old Tiger in the filming of a special television show. Then, a few years later, a woman was bitten by a baby elephant. Finally, a rhino climbs a Mercedes-Benz gray, believing it to be a partner, causing massive damage to the stern.
Jungle Habitat does not have any games, and when Warner Brothers try to expand the park to include a wooden glider, conveyor and many other games for adults and children, they have encountered the opposition of local people, who are not interested in noise and traffic , and nearly voted for the expansion. Warner Brothers decided to close the park when they were denied expansion, realized that without extension, they would not be able to build sales.
A year after the park closed, almost 400 of the original 1,500 animals in the park were sold. Unfortunately, nine of the animals are suffering from tuberculosis and must be destroyed, leading to an investigation.
The park area is now popular for people to walk and cycle through, with many cages and old works still in existence.
3 Catskill Game Farm
Photo Source: Abandoned America
Although it is open after World War II as a zoo so families connect with wildlife by stroking and feeding animals, farm game cats will soon be brought bad language.
Beginning in 1933 as a private animal farm and first opening to the public in 1945 at the Catskill, New York, the Catskill game Farm is the first privately owned zoo in the United States and is the largest zoo in a time. It includes deer, bison, llamas, zebras, and Antelope,... With an area you can walk and feed the animals.
The zoo has been brilliantly successful when it is open, as the Catskill range is a popular tourist spot and zoo founder, Roland Lindemann, has spent much of his time expanding zoos to include rare and endangered animals, increasing population to 600 wildlife and 200 species of domestication animals.
But in the early 1990, the zoo was announced when an article brought news that the animals were sold to game hunters for hunting. Before the park closed in 2006, the protemen overflowed the zoo's gates to try to make the owners donate the animals to the sanctuary. When it came at auction the animals after closing the park, activists attempted to buy as many animals as possible, but many still look to the game hunter with the highest bid.
In 2012, the property was acquired by Ben and Cathy Ballone, in hopes of restoring the base and turning the buildings into a hostel and campground. Recently, they opened old hostels in the renovated rest of the old giraffe Barn, giving the park an abandoned new life and a brighter future.
4 Alligatorland
People will think that in the land of Disney World and Universal Studios, the attraction parks in Florida will meet the highest standards, but that is not the case of the Alligatorland Safari Zoo.
Shortly after Gator Motel and a 38-metre (126 ft) crocodile statue, Alligatorland is home to more than 1,600 exotic animals and birds of various species. You can walk through nearly 7 acres of land and see nearby animals.
But the trouble for Alligatorland started in 1982, when Gatorland filed a lawsuit against them because there was a very similar entrance to their park. The giant crocodile jaw was too similar, Gatorland claimed, their entrance, which was erected from the years 1960. (Alligatorland opened in the years 1970.)
Later, the entire state of Florida was thoroughly vetted on how to treat animals. This resulted in Alligatorland receiving an unexpected examination, in which it was discovered that the barn was not standard, the cage has a lot of old animal feces and animals are not properly cared for. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) penalized 1,500 the owner of Alligatorland, Darren Browning, which he refused to pay and instead decided to present himself in court.
During the two-day trial, he questioned the capacity of the USDA inspecinspections and eventually lost the lawsuit. For the next three years, he continued to lose much of the court battle against the USDA, and he eventually sold the property in 1995.
The zoo will open back shortly afterwards under the name of Jungleland Zoo, but after the flood, a lion escaped, many times the USDA test failed, and the economic turning point in the early 2000, the zoo was closed in 2002.
The crocodile statue in front of Alligatorland was demolished in 2014, but the structures and walkways of the park persist, hoping that one day will be renovated and turned into an attraction.
5 Stanley Park Zoo
Photo Source: Scout Magazine
How the Stanley Park Zoo in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was founded is quite an interesting story: The superintendent for Stanley Park, Henry Avison, discovered an orphaned black bear cub on the grounds, so he chained the bear, like a dog, to a stump to keep him contained and safe.[4] Over the coming years, he captured more animals on the grounds that needed help and treatment. By the time the zoo officially opened in the early 1900s, there were over 50 animals, both native and exotic, that Avison had taken in or discovered abandoned, and people kept donating animals to the zoo’s collection, even after Avison’s death.In 1956, the zoo’s aquarium opened with penguins and otters, and in 1962, polar bears were donated to the zoo and quickly became the main attraction.In the 1990s, animal activists picketed against the zoo, stating that many of the cages were too small and that Vancouver’s weather was too harsh for many of the animals. To resolve this, the City of Vancouver decided to expand the zoo, but citizens voted against the expansion and called for the zoo to be shut down, so it did in 1996.Most of the animals were sent to the Greater Vancouver Zoo or relocated to the Stanley Park Children’s Farmyard (which was closed in 2011), but one animal was allowed to stay in the park—Tuk, the 36-year-old polar bear whose health was too poor to be moved. He died in 1997, and the zoo was officially closed.To this day, the polar bear pit still stands on the grounds and is currently repurposed as a salmon hatchery. Guests can still walk through the overgrown vegetation of where the zoo once was.
6 Belle Isle Zoo
Photo Source: 99.1 WFMK
Although Detroit is in the entire city's renovation phase, there are still many remnants of corruption in the government and the economic downturn that the city has witnessed.
One of the victims of this city incident was the Belle Isle Zoo, closed in 2002 by the then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who tied the budget as the reason for the closure of the zoo, although the locals were extremely opposed to the closure.
Belle Isle, located in the Detroit River between Detroit and Canada, used to be an outstanding attraction to locals and tourists, the path to beach parks, natural paths and stunning landscapes, as well as its main attraction, the zoo.
Opened in 1895 with a bear and a swarm of deer, the zoo has developed more than 150 animals in just 15 years and includes tigers, seals, elephants and exotic birds. When the Detroit Zoo opened, most of the animals were there, and the zoo Belle Isle was turned into a baby zoo before being completely renovated in the 1980 and was renamed "Safariland".
The park's renovation consists of hut-like structures, walkway and wooden bridges, and metal cages are now abandoned on the island, growing in luxuriant and devastated, with fallen trees and creeping lines surrounding the metal. Currently, there is no plan to reopen the zoo, although the state is trying to restore other areas of Isle Island.
7 Wildlife Wonderland
Image source: Australasian Leisure Management
Rosie the Shark became a propagation when YouTuber and urban explorer Luke McPherson discovered its decomposition corpse in a large tank in the year 2018. However, the question is why Rosie is back there, and who forgot it?
Rosie belongs to the Wildlife Wonderland in Bass, Victoria, Australia, an Animal and zoo Restoration Center for Indigenous Australian species, such as the bare-nose, kangaroos, koalas, and many other birds.
Unlike many other zoo and parks on this list, which have been shut down because of animal cruelty allegations, Wildlife Wonderland has been shut down because they violate the laws of wildlife 1975 and do not have licenses to exhibit indigenous animals, meaning they cannot act as a zoo , leaving the owners for the animals and closing the park in the year 2012.
Regarding the last Rosie at the abandoned zoo, an artist preserved her body after it was trapped in a fishing net and donated to the museum. In 2019, due to vandalism damage to the Rosie tank, in the end, the shark was transferred to another facility in Victoria named Crystal World.
8 Walt Disney World’s Discovery Island
Image source: Shane Perez
We discussed the bankruptcy park of Warner Brothers, but people might be surprised to see Disney on this list.
The Discovery Island is a wildlife and nature attraction in the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, consisting of a variety of native birds and plants, as well as a sandy beach for guests to walk. It operates from Apr. 1974 to Apr. 1999.
Walt Disney was exploring the island while buying the land would become the Disney world and had great plans for the 11.5 acres. The first was named Blackbeard Island, he wants it to be a pirate-themed attraction complete with shipwrecks, Forts, and a inn, but as the construction on the park begins, he decides to turn it into a more tropical region, introducing exotic birds and plants to the island and renaming the Treasure Island.
Many years have passed, the island is more concentrated into the wild animals. A bird's barn was built on the basis to feed the birds, and the island was again renamed to the Discovery Island.
Controversy occurred at the Discovery Island in 1989, when a two-month investigation by state and federal officials led to accusations against Disney and five employees for shooting the rifle into Hawks, fighting the vulture to death with sticks and destroying nests and eggs. State reports indicate that many employees think they have taken action under the Disney World Licence, and are performing illegal activities under the direction of the park's manager, Charlie Cook. Disney settled out of court.
Following the bad language and with the opening of Animal Kingdom, Disney decided to shut down the Discovery Island in April 1999, moving things to the Animal Kingdom Resort and let the vegetation grow.
In 2009, urban explorer Shane Perez and a number of friends were swimming, under the cover of darkness, to the island and to photograph the abandoned buildings and trees that grew luxuriant. They found leftover office supplies and many different specimens in jars. Although they were not accused of crew for infringement, Disney had threatened to ban them from all Disney parks.
At present, there is no plan to recover the Discovery island, making it one of two abandoned parks at Disney World.
9 Southport Zoo
Photo source: Southport
Official reasons for the Southport Zoo in Southport, Mer Jerseyide, he was shut down because the city council did not allow owners, Carol and Douglas Petrie, renew their lease on the zoo, thus allowing Pleasureland, an amusement park to attract the zoo, to expand and create more attractive points.
The most likely reason the city Council has not changed the lease Petries, is because they are tired of dealing with the protemen and people who oppose the zoo.
Although it's a small zoo, it contains only 154 species, mostly birds and invertebrates, but the negative attention that the zoo receives is huge, with the list being one of Britain's worst zoo by the Captive Animal Protection Association (CAPS). People who oppose the zoo claimed they had recorded the opinion of hundreds of visitors to the zoo and the former managers that the animals were treated badly, quarantined and inseparants. Petries deny these claims, and the zoo's investigation also does not find evidence, the scrutiny consideration on how the government chooses the inspector, since most of them are related to the zoo industry.
At the top of the campaign against the zoo are chimpancrystals Jackie and Jason, there are faces pasted on flyers and posters to attract attention. It has been declared that they live in cramped, isolated cages. The animals are offering a home in a primates reserve in Dorset, but Petries will not allow them to be displaced, stating that it is not the best concern of Chimpantinh.
Petries eventually lost the protection of their zoo in 2004, and the animals would be taken to various zoos throughout England and Wales. The location was reopened in 2010 as Battlefield Live Southport ", an outdoor combat game venue that uses infrared gunshot guns.
10 Nay Aug Park Zoo
Image source: WNEP-TV
The Nay Aug Park Zoo in Scranton, Pennsylvania, was once a source of pride for the community, with children raising money to purchase elephants for the zoo in 1924 and 1935, but before the century’s close, it would be a source of scrutiny and disgrace.Though the zoo once saw up to 500 visitors in a day, bad upkeep to the animal houses would cause people to question the establishment’s operations. In 1963, the heating system for the zoo would fail, causing four monkeys to die from exposure. The same year, a faulty door in the lion cages allowed a lioness to enter the cage of two cubs, resulting in their death. Other incidents throughout the years included a monkey escaping and biting a zoo attendant, an elephant choking on a stuffed toy that had been thrown into her cage and having to have it removed, and, at different times, an alligator, a monkey, and two black bears escaping from their cages, resulting in all being shot and killed. Parade magazine would call Nay Aug Park Zoo one of the ten worst zoos in the nation.Citing financial struggles, the zoo closed in 1988, with Toni the elephant being the last animal to be relocated.[10] In 2003, the zoo would reopen as the Genesis Wildlife Center, but public outcry over animal abuse and the lack of changes to the structures would force the zoo to close again in 2009.Though it no longer holds exotic animals, the main building of Nay Aug Zoo has been renovated and reopened by the charity Street Cats as a low-cost spay and neuter clinic for cats and dogs, with many cats living in the building while waiting to be adopted.
