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- Bird On A Bicycle
Nothing says "Old Florida" like a cockatoo methodically pedaling a bird-size bicycle across a high wire.
Roadsideamerica.com Report...
I am sad to say that Jungle Island is closed, with no indication when they plan to reopen, if ever.
[Macossay, 04/06/2022]Jungle Island [formerly Parrot Jungle]:RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Directions:
- I-95 exit 2D onto I-395 east. Go over the bridge, then make first right onto Parrot Jungle Trail, Follow the road around and under the causeway to the parking garage on the left-hand side.
- Status:
- Closed
Parrot Jungle and Gardens Groundbreaking on Miami island
Parrot Jungle and Gardens will be moving to a new location and re-opening in late 2002 if all goes well with construction on Watson Island, Miami, FL. The groundbreaking will be held on March 21.
According to the press release: "Parrot Jungle and Gardens has a rich history in Miami dating back to 1936. The Watson Island project is 6 1/2 years in the making. The new $47 million park will be a lush tropical jungle nestled on 16.5 acres of Watson Island. The property rests on the North side of the McArthur Causeway. The park will feature some of the most popular elements of the existing facility along with some exciting new features like the Serpentarium, a 1,000-seat banquet facility and an Everglades exhibit to name a just a few."
[03/18/2001]Miami Officials Cheer Parrot Jungle's Move To Watson Island As Boon For City
In a deal designed to pump new revenue into the bankrupt city of Miami, Parrot Jungle has signed a 60-year lease and will move to Watson Island, a stretch of waterfront land off the MacArthur Causeway. Parrot Jungle must now turn a barren 18.6-acre parcel on the north side of the causeway into a tropical garden. Half a million plants and trees will be brought to the tract. A decrepit Japanese garden on the island will be moved. The park also will require a new exit ramp and a 500-space parking lot. It is scheduled to open in Spring, 1999.
The park's move is expected to bring the city about $600,000 per year, officials say. That could help defray a $68 million budget deficit that has put the city in financial straits.
The development, which will cost Parrot Jungle $26 million, is expected to help revitalize Watson Island, now largely a refuge for the homeless. "Parrot Jungle will be a magnet for the whole downtown-Port of Miami area," said Mayor Joe Carollo, at a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.
The tourist attraction is moving out of the newly created city of Pinecrest, where many residents opposed its expansion.
Parrot Jungle was opened 61 years ago by Australian immigrant Franz Scherr, who moved to the United States in 1911. The 1930s Depression cut short his career in the construction business and he ended up in Homestead, FL, where he opened a feed store and kept several parrots on display. The birds became a local attraction and Scherr got the idea of creating a tourist mecca. Scherr opened Parrot Jungle in 1936. His son, Jerome, managed the park until its sale in 1988 to Bern Levine and his late partner, Richard Schubot.
[03/31/1997]Parrot Jungle and Gardens to Observe National Pig Day
Parrot Jungle and Gardens will once again bring a growing national holiday to South Florida on Saturday, March 1, with a National Pig Day celebration. Pig Day parties are planned at 11:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Visitors will be able to meet and learn about Parrot Jungle's resident potbellied Pigs, sing "Happy Pig Day to You" and participate in a hog-calling contest.
National Pig Day was conceived by two sisters, Ellen Stanley of Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, North Carolina. They both shared a childhood fascination with swine and in 1972 began the observance of National Pig Day.
Elsewhere, declining hog supplies have prompted IBP to significantly scale back operations at two of its Iowa pork plants, a company official announced today. All second shift carcass production at Columbus Junction, IA will cease, effective March 3. The company also gave notice today that all carcass production at Council Bluffs will cease April 24. The layoffs effect more than 1,000 people.
"Due to the migration of hog supplies to southern states, there simply are no longer enough hogs available in today's marketplace to consistently meet the current production needs of the Midwestern pork processing industry," said the spokesman. Despite these cutbacks, "the number of hogs relative to available production capacity still remains out of balance. It's not an issue of not being able to compete. It's an issue of a hostile social and political climate for agriculture and livestock production in particular."
"More must be done to promote Iowa pork -- rather than tear it down. Iowa lost its prominence in cattle production 20 years ago. Unless current trends change, the future will be the same for the pork industry.
"Worldwide demand for pork is growing," he continued. "Hogs will be raised to meet that demand. The question that needs to be asked by Iowa is how much economic well being disappears from their state with every unit train of corn that leaves to feed hogs somewhere else."
[02/25/1997]
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Jungle Island closed at the start of the pandemic, and its owners have used the subsequent time to lobby Miami to build a hotel and resort on the property. They've given no date when this new iteration of the attraction -- the Florida classic was originally "Parrot Jungle" -- will open. If it ever does, animals appear to be an afterthought.