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UER Store
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sweet UER decals:
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Location DB >
United States >
Texas >
Grand Prairie >
The Wildlife Park
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Publically Viewable |
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This location has been labeled as Demolished, and therefore can be viewed by anyone.
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A large wooded tract of land (485 acres) accented by scrub brush, weeds and open prairie just a stones throw from a major Interstate Highway. About all that's left of this amusement park is two huge guest parking lots, some park infrastructure and building ruins.
3.28.2024 - It has been getting chipped away at for a decade. Wildlife Commerce Park and a large retention pond popped up in the SE corner, and various logistics and warehousing was built. All the remains to the NW have now been cleared, and Refuge Way is being extended across the property.
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Type: Outdoors
Status: Demolished
Accessibility: Easy - it's gone
Recommendation: forget it - It's gone!
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flooding
water
debris, snakes, ticks, poisonous plants AND feral hogs!
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Ruins of a large amusement park, a crocodile pit and a boat ride. What more do you need?
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barbed wire
locked gates
fences are down in some areas
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long pants / sleeves
boots, insect repellant
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Lion Country Safari billed itself as the first drive through zoo when they opened the gates to their park in Florida in 1967. For the price of admission you could cruise the family station wagon through large enclosed areas where exotic African animals roamed relatively free. Shortly thereafter they opened another one here in Texas on 485 acres along the Trinity River that was once sand and gravel pits. There was trouble from the beginning - accusations of animal cruelty and escapes, sick animals sold to unscrupulous animal brokers and later turning up dumped somewhere or found floating in the Gulf of Mexico as one elephant did. Some big cat would occasionaly attack a handler and cars got torn up pretty regular. It was later sold and operated as International Wildlife Park until the Trinity River flooded in 1990 wiping out many of the animals and allowing others to escape into the community. I think this was the end of the park and I don’t believe it ever re-opened.
There's not a great deal of information on the Web. Lion Country Safari is still in business in Florida. I found it a strange coincidence that a flood at their California location wiped it out too.
I wish I had gotten out here to explore this place years ago. Aerial photos from 1997 show all the buildings standing and a few vehicles left. Then in 2002 the photographs show all the buildings were leveled and the parking lots being used to store junked cars. About the same time an outfit called Lone Star Jockey Club purchased the land and it showed up on the Texas Super Fund Site list! #TXD988086690
Today it has all gone back to nature for the most part anyways. The brush and weeds have overgrown much of the old park infrastructure and tourist roads. Coyotes and raccoons rule the jungle now instead of lions and elephants. Snakes, rabbits and bird life of every description are present. There are wild grapes, wild plums, persimmons, dewberries and figs growing all over the place and big fish jumping in the oxbow lakes.
UPDATE Hawg advisory in effect any feral swine seen in the area should be considered potentially dangerous, please see story from Basic Member Weaseldog
UPDATE 12/04/2014 - The entire area was broken up into lots and sold last summer. The areas along the roads were worked over and a retail and light industrial / warehouse area is being constructed on the east side. The rest of the property which featured most of the remaining park features was acquired by an energy company, and gas well drilling is taking place. If visiting what little remains, beware of armed security guards.
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The moderator rating is a neutral rating of the content quality, photography, and coolness of this location.
| Category |
Rating |
| Photography |
8 / 10 |
| Coolness |
7 / 10 |
| Content Quality |
8 / 10 |
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This location's validation is current. It was last validated by
Emperor Wang on 3/28/2024 4:28 PM.
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on Mar 28 24 at 16:28, Emperor Wang validated this location
on Mar 28 24 at 16:26, Emperor Wang changed the following: History
on Mar 28 24 at 16:22, Emperor Wang changed the following: Hazards, Interesting Features
on Mar 28 24 at 14:32, fr00tCake changed the following: Description
on Mar 28 24 at 14:30, fr00tCake added some pictures to a gallery
on Mar 28 24 at 14:29, fr00tCake created a new gallery
on Mar 28 24 at 14:29, fr00tCake changed the following: Status, Accessibility, Recommendation, Description
on Jun 7 18 at 2:11, Emperor Wang validated this location
on Jun 4 18 at 13:19, Explorer Zero made this location private
on Dec 4 14 at 21:36, Mike Dijital validated this location
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