Jungle Habitat

A postcard from the park

Jungle Habitat can be found in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey. It was owned by the Warner Bros and opened in 1972 and was initially profitable. The site contained over 1500 animals. There was two sections to Jungle Habitat; drive through and walk through. The walk through was named Jungle Junction and the drive through was named Animal Safari Park.
  With the Safari Park, the wild animals would approach the cars, which is why visitors are told to drive around slowly. Visitors had the choice to use their own vehicles or the Jungle Habitat bus. The animals would climb onto the cars, or stop in front of the cars preventing them from moving, this is why visitors were also told to leave their windows closed at all times.
  Jungle Junction was themed, there was a petting zoo with elephant and camel rides, snack bars and gift shops. A reptile house, dolphin show, Bugs Bunny and Friends shows (live Looney Tunes characters.) The small tram station in this area was called Jungle Junction.

A hut left abandoned in the park

This park was initially very profitable, but it started to decline, poor management and failure to expand contributed to the demise of Jungle Habitat, but the negative attention the park seemed to attract didn't help the situation. On October 19th 1972, shortly after the park opened a tourist was attacked by a lion. Two years later a women was bitten by a baby elephant who reached out of the enclosure and grabbed her. She was awarded $200,000 for her injuries.
 In 1975 there was a proposed plan for a $20 million expansion, which included a wooden rollercoaster, junior coaster, log flume and a carousel; which would all be added in Spring 1977. Many were divided over whether these plans should go ahead. Many of the animals had been rumoured to have escaped their closures, roaming in the residential areas nearby, plus there was reports that many animals were left to decay after being euthanised due to them having tuberculosis.
 This wasn't the only issue with the locals, the increased traffic in the area was also an issue as congestion was already getting bad. The park closed for the last time after its Halloween Weekend in October 1976, with locals voting against the expansion on November 2nd. Following this vote it was decided that the park would close and the land was sold. The buildings were left to deteriorate and the animals were sold, although there were false reports that the animals were left on the site to roam freely.

In 2007, with Ringwood State Park now owning the land, the Rampapo Valley Cycling Club started their clean up on the land. Once the site was cleared, JORBA built single-track trails for bikes, equestrians and walkers. There was 11-12 miles of this trail by 2008. There was a negotiation between West Milford and New Jersey to lease the 10 acre macadam parking lot for recreational use. The property was used to host West Milfords Fourth of July celebrations under a special permit. A local bike shop sponsors an event called "Rumble in the Jungle" which is an annual mountain bike race. The area has become popular with dog walkers, mountain bikers, trail runners, equestrians and black bears.