Convertibles were not allowed at this zoo

5 years ago
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This video captures some playful primates in a once thriving drive-through zoo called Six Flags Wild Safari in New Jersey. Animals of all sorts could be observed there while driving through in the safety and comfort of your own car. This particular area of the zoo had a warning sign posted and an alternate bypass route to avoid the monkey exhibit altogether. This would have been a very useful strategy for someone driving in a convertible. You can see why in the video that convertibles would be bad. I think I remember such a sign posting that you enter at your own risk of damage. I recall seeing these beautiful primates yanking radio antennae of cars. On the way in you were told not to feed the animals but no one really ever listened. You can see some of that activity in the video.
You can really say that the humans were the ones in the cages at this exhibit and the monkeys were observing them too. The animals seem to be having the time of their lives climbing and riding the cars and eating what was thrown at them. They stopped allowing cars back in 2012 and now have controlled guided tours on an off road truck under what is called Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari. Now in 2018, the zoo boasts 1,200 animals from 6 continents including elephants, rhinos, tigers, giraffes and lions. I would guess that the new Safari Off Road Adventure is a safer method of observation. Animals can be unpredictable and adding unpredictable humans and cars into the mix could be a recipe for disaster. An animal could have really been injured at the old zoo. I wonder if there are any stats about such events happening at these types of places. This footage is from a Sony 8mm video camera recorded in August 1994. Antiquated by today's standards so it is probably not what people are used to seeing these days with HD resolution. But it is still good enough to bring back the memories of those times.

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