The Roadside America website (
visit link) for this site informs us:
"Miami, Florida - Jungle Island [formerly Parrot Jungle]
A performing animal attraction that's been in the Miami area since 1936. Roadsideamerica.com Report...
Address:
1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, FL
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.
Hours:
Daily 10 am - 6 pm. (Call to verify)
Phone:
305-400-7000
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
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."
and Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle) is an interactive zoological park in Watson Island, Miami, Florida, United States. 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.
Originally founded in 1936 by Franz & Louise Scherr, Parrot Jungle was one of the first tourist attractions established in the Miami area.[citation needed] 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 paid 25 cents admission 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.
On June 28, 2007, four years after the park first opened at its bayfront location, Jungle Island became the official name."