Six Flags Shutting Car Access to Wild Safari Soon
The Jackson theme park announced the change Monday, but won't address Wild Safari's future until Aug. 30.
If driving through a faux safari while animals hungrily eye your takeout is your thing, pack the kids in the car and hurry to Six Flags Wild Safari in Jackson before Sept. 30.
The amusement park announced Monday it will close Wild Safari—billed as the “largest drive-thru safari outside of Africa”—to private cars at the end of September, according to the Six Flags Great Adventure’s Facebook page.
Since the 1970s, the Jackson amusement park has allowed patrons to drive their own cars through the 350-acre “safari.” The 1,200 animals housed on the preserve include lions, kangaroos and giraffes, many of which roam free amid the cars driving through the park. No doubt plenty of New Jerseyans have childhood memories of baboons surrounding their cars and doggedly scratching at windows for food.
Six Flags left some mystery to its announcement. While private cars will be banned after Sept. 30, there is no word on whether the park will continue next year with the bus tours it currently offers. Nor did officials offer a reason for the private car ban or for why the park is closing a month earlier than usual this year, according to The Star-Ledger.
“More to come when we release the details for our 2013 season on Aug. 30, 2012,” the theme park’s Facebook post said.
In June 2011, a young baboon escaped from Wild Safari, carousing through Monmouth and Ocean counties before she peacefully surrendered. It was just the second time an animal escaped from the park in its history.
What do you think Six Flags should do with Wild Safari? Vote in our poll and tell us in the comments.
Future Old Angry Italian Guy
7:52 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
I think driving through some parts of Camden and Philly is worse.
Ken Allan
3:42 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Public Relations folks at Six Flags should not have said anything until they were prepared to announce everything. Telling people to wait until August 30 is beyond stupid. I guess the PR staff flunked public relations 101.
Keith Allen
8:57 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Actually, it's a great way to create hype. Think about it.. more people are going to flock to Six Flags to use the Safari (myself included) before it shuts it's doors on September 30th. I think that a company as successful as Six Flags has a PR team that knows what it's doing.
Dan Reynolds
8:47 pm on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
I bet local body shops are bummed..
Anne Carroll
4:15 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Wild animals should never be used as entertainment. They deserve our respect. Respect does not include cheap thrills such as having animals approach your car in puzzlement as to why you are there. The poor animals do not know what the heck is going on. They are being exploited for purposes of entertaining the masses. We are the masses. Remember Ancient Rome: Bread & Circuses to entertain the masses i.e, keep the ignorant masses fat, happy, uninformed and subdued.
life time resident
4:50 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Oh please Anne....hmmm..lets see...the horse and dog racing industry, rodeo, circus, polo, gees oh man I hate this overboard social correct behavior stuff...why don't we just never have any interaction with animals and let them do thier thing? I guess you are one of those that believes you have a "right" to take little Fifi into a resturant with you too...
Anne Carroll
6:21 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
No, dear Life: I'd never take little 'Fifi' into a restaurant. That would diminish her/his and my dignity. Animals, whether wild OR domestic, deserve our respect. By the way, the horse and dog racing industries, rodeo and circus, make me illl. I'll be happy when these venues are no more. As for polo, the horses may enjoy it; if they do, I'm all for it. All I wish for is that animals not be forced into something not natural for them to do. E.g., Sea World, 'swimming with dolphins' and other venues which exploit animals. Doesn't matter to me if their owners get financial gain from these circuses or not; what matters to me is that the animals are being exploited for our amusement. Not good. For us or for the animals. Would you like to be put into a cage and then 'trained' to perform? Perhaps you would. If so, I'll retract my previous comment.
life time resident
2:12 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
"I'd never take little 'Fifi' into a restaurant. That would diminish her/his and my dignity."...the dog feels a sense of dignity? Really? yikes!