Jacko's Neverland now looks like a hunted castle

London, March 11 : Once designed to be a children's paradise, pop star Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch now appears to be an abandoned wasteland.

The house that was built in the style of a Disney mansion now looks like a hunted castle with broken windows and peeling paintwork.

A newspaper report also says that the more than 50 full-time workers that the ranch once employed have all gone, reports British tabloid The Sun.

Empty enclosures stand where once exotic animals used to parade in front of laughing visitors, and the zoo at the property is now devoid of the elephants, giraffes, lions and monkeys it once boasted off.

The once pruned and sculpted gardens at the property are now wild and overgrown.

Jackson, who bought the ranch in 1987 intending to create a wonderland for children, has not lived at the property since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges.

Neverland is up for auction after Jackson ran up debts of 12.5million pounds in the day-to-day running of the lavish estate.

The 2,800-acre property, situated in the hills of Santa Barbara, California, will go under the hammer on March 19 unless the singer can raise the cash to keep it.

Meanwhile, two British tycoons have launched a bid to buy the ranch with the intention of offering Jackson the chance to rent it back.

ANI