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<\/p>\n Read in app<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n This story is available exclusively to Business Insider In 2021, I explored the ruins of a Miami zoo that was abandoned after hurricanes ravaged the area. On a corner of a\u00a0South Florida beach<\/a>, I found empty cages covered in graffiti and greenery. Decades ago, these enclosures were home to monkeys, reptiles, tigers, and bears. But a hurricane in the 1980s left the Crandon Park Zoo in shambles.<\/p>\n Established in the 1940s, the Crandon Park Zoo was Miami’s first zoo, according to the Miami Herald<\/a>.\u00a0The park closed following the natural disaster. Animals that survived the hurricane<\/a> were moved to a larger area.<\/p>\n In 1991, the zoo ruins reopened as gardens with the goal “not to destroy everything,” Kevin Asher, a planner for the county, told the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n I visited the park in October 2021 to see what remained of the abandoned zoo<\/a>, and I found a natural wildlife<\/a> sanctuary.<\/p>\n The first thing I noticed at the abandoned zoo was a sign at the entrance warning visitors that crocodiles were present.<\/p>\n The entrance to the zoo ruins.<\/p>\n Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
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\n Nature has since taken over Crandon Park Zoo. Crocodiles and other wildlife now thrive there.
\n Some abandoned cage structures from the zoo remain, and I got a look inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n