Atlas Obscura<\/a>, the ruins are also home to wild alligators, iguanas, and peacocks.<\/p>\n\n The walkways through the park made me feel as if I were in a zoo \u2014 one where the animals were free.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Birds](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
<\/p>\n
Birds perch on a fence in the park.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
Parts of the park were paved, while others felt wild. Some of the land was once a coconut plantation, according to the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n
\n In one shaded area, I spotted what appeared to be an abandoned animal cage embedded in the rocks.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An abandoned enclosure in the park.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
I thought it looked like it could have been a unique, immersive attraction and wondered what animals may have lived there decades ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Some of the abandoned structures were fenced off and covered in graffiti.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A fence blocks access to an abandoned structure.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
I peered over high, chain-linked fences and spotted remnants of vandalized structures.<\/p>\n
\n But one large structure remained accessible.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The largest abandoned structure in the park.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
It appeared to once house multiple cages.<\/p>\n
\n Around the back, I noticed caged doors that looked as if they were used to feed the animals inside.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cages were locked.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
I was able to see inside a few of the animals’ quarters, which were now empty aside from some leaves, branches, and overgrown vines. The doors were still locked.<\/p>\n
\n The view inside the structures was somewhat haunting.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inside one of the locked enclosures.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
Peering inside made me think about the animals that might have gotten stuck inside as hurricane waters filled their enclosures.<\/p>\n
I tried to imagine what kind of animals could live in these spaces. Based on their size, maybe monkeys, I thought.<\/p>\n
\n I left the park thinking it’s probably a better home now for the wildlife that has taken over.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trees inside the park.<\/p>\n
Joey Hadden\/Business Insider <\/p>\n
After my visit, the zoo celebrated its 75th anniversary<\/a> of serving the community in November 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first thing I noticed was a sign at the entrance warning visitors that crocodiles were present. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[37005,377244,377245,31384,192,45451,360729,47452,2821,14143,7221,39887,325509,79,377246,37480,44088],"class_list":["post-900641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-coast","tag-crandon-park","tag-eerie-cage","tag-elephant","tag-environment","tag-graffiti","tag-greenery","tag-hurricane","tag-miami","tag-monkey","tag-nature","tag-reptile","tag-ruin","tag-science","tag-shamble","tag-tiger","tag-zoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}