Lion Country Safari

Lion Country Safari
Date opened 1967 (1967)
Location Loxahatchee, Florida
Coordinates 26°42′58″N 80°19′20″W / 26.7160778°N 80.3221278°W / 26.7160778; -80.3221278Coordinates: 26°42′58″N 80°19′20″W / 26.7160778°N 80.3221278°W / 26.7160778; -80.3221278
Memberships AZA[1]
Website www.lioncountrysafari.com

Lion Country Safari is a drive-through safari park and walk-through amusement park located on over 600 acres in Loxahatchee (near West Palm Beach), in Palm Beach County, Florida. Founded in 1967, it claims to be the first 'cageless zoo' in the United States.

In 2009, USA Travel Guide named Lion Country the 3rd best zoo in the nation.[2]

Background

In the beginning, the park had its own 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railroad, the Everglade Express. The architects of Lion Country Safari based the design of the property on Jack Murphy Stadium. This attraction was eventually closed and the Crown Metal Products 4-4-0 locomotive was put on static display. Later, the locomotive was donated to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami before finally being bought and fully restored by the Veterans Memorial Railroad, located in Bristol, Florida's Veterans Memorial Park. It runs on that railroad to this day.[3][4]

The original South Florida park is the only one remaining in operation. Lion Country Safari previously operated parks in Irvine, California (1970–1984); Grand Prairie, Texas (1971–1992); Stockbridge, Georgia (1970-1984); Mason, Ohio (1974–1993) and Doswell, Virginia (1974–1993); all of them subsequently closed.

On June 20, 2017 it was announced that Marcella Leone, founder and director of the non-profit Leo Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Connecticut, was in negotiations to purchase the park.

Exhibits

Giraffe

The original park in Florida consists of over 1,000 animals, throughout seven sections in the 4-mile preserve as well as the 33-acre Amusement Park.

Visitors who purchase a ticket enter the park in their own vehicle (no convertibles), driving slowly at their own pace, and view the animals while listening to a recorded narration on audiotape or CD. Many of the animals, such as giraffes, rhinoceroses, and zebras, are allowed to roam freely throughout the preserve, even crossing the road in front of vehicles. Others, such as lions or chimpanzees, are segregated behind fences or water barriers.

Visitors are warned to drive slowly and carefully, to avoid stopping too close to animals, and not to open their car doors or windows. The lions, whose ability to roam freely with cars was one of the park's original attractions, were separated from visitors by a fence around the road in 2005, due to visitors ignoring warnings and opening their car doors.

A unique aspect of Lion Country Safari is the chimpanzee exhibit. The chimps live on an island system where they move to a different island every day, replicating their natural nomadic lifestyle. The chimps live in complex social groups, as they would in the wild. Because of this, Lion Country Safari has been useful to those interested in behavioral studies of chimps. As of 2012, chimpanzees living at Lion Country Safari included Little Mama, one of the oldest known living chimpanzees, born in 1938, who died on November 14th 2017 from kidney failure. Lion Country Safari also serves as a retirement facility for chimpanzees who were once used in research laboratories and entertainment.

After visitors have driven through the park, they can visit Safari World, a theme park featuring exhibits, and amusement park fare such as an Animal Theater, a petting zoo, mini golf, paddle boats, 2 water slides, a small water park, and the popular giraffe-feeding exhibit. Food is available at Lion Country Safari's main restaurant.

Animal species

Safari Tour

Las Pampas

Ruaha National Park

Kalahari Bushveldt

Gir Forest

Gorongosa Reserve

Serengeti Plains

Hwange National Park

Safari World

Frasier the Sensuous Lion

The Lion Country Safari franchise in Irvine, California, briefly featured a lion that became a celebrity in his own right.[5]

An aging circus lion from Mexico was given to the Irvine facility in 1970. Already 18 years old, analogous to a human aged 80+, the lion was toothless and ill.[5] Named "Frasier," he became a major attraction at the park when, despite his advanced age, Frasier fathered litters totalling 35 lion cubs by the park's pride of six lionesses.[6] As a result, T-shirts, watches, and other souvenirs were made featuring a photo of Frasier, which quickly became popular merchandise.

In 1973, Lion Country tried to capitalize on their star with a feature film called Frasier the Sensuous Lion. The film featured a song, by the same title, performed by Sarah Vaughan.[7] However, the film was a major flop, financially and critically, being roundly panned for using a different lion in Frasier′s place and for employing a voice actor for Frasier to fictionalize the story.

Frasier the Sensuous Lion died of pneumonia in 1972. He was buried at the park, with a sendoff by the Frasier clan of Scotland, which had adopted Frasier as its mascot.[5]

After his death, attendance at Lion Country Safari declined sharply. Since the closing of the park, the site housed two summer camps (Camp Frasier and later Camp James), and is currently used as condos.

In culture

Notes

  1. ↑ "Currently Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. AZA. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Veterans Memorial Railroad No. 306
  4. ↑ Surviving Steam Locomotives in Florida
  5. 1 2 3 Harvey, Steve (2010-01-17). "Lionizing Frasier, a first-class lover". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  6. ↑ "5: Best Thing Not There Anymore". OC Weekly. 2000-10-19. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  7. ↑ "Send in the Clowns (Columbia) - Sarah Vaughan". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-05-20.

References

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