♪♪ Well, if you ask people what their favorite animal is, chances are they're not going to say rodents, but these guys might change some minds.

They're called capybaras.

They're the largest rodents in the world, and they really are very affectionate.

This is Tater Todd.

We got Nutmeg over here.

I'm Doug Gede, out east on Newsday TV.

These guys are native to South America, but they also live here at the Long Island Game Farm in Manorville, one of the stops on our show.

We'll also take you to a cozy winery that's very pretty both inside and out.

And from nostalgic knickknacks to classic candies, we'll visit a beloved country store that's been around since the 1970s.

And we'll show you the Wildlife Rescue Center where newborn raccoons, a vulture, and many other animals have found refuge.

But let's begin where a whole host of wild animals have been entertaining people since 1970, the Long Island Game Farm.

♪♪ My parents started the Long Island Game Farm in 1970.

That was Stanley and Diane Novak.

It was a really fun place to grow up.

It's kind of different, with animals all over the place and sometimes in the kitchen.

The first animals I think we had were things like goats and some deer.

And then, of course, we had lions and bears.

And then my dad started bringing in all the shows.

So we'd have tiger shows or lion shows, which we can't have now.

And then way back in the past, we had the sea lion shows.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I noticed, first of all, as soon as you walk in, I see like a whole spruced up new area.

Yeah, well, we redesigned the front entrance.

We're updating a lot of facilities.

If you notice, we have the cappy barrow pond.

We have the soon-to-be-completed alligator pond.

We had an upgrade on our tortoise pond.

The cappy barrows, they're nothing more than big guinea pigs.

They're very friendly.

They're mellow.

These guys are the largest rodent in the world.

They're native to South America.

They live in areas like Colombia, Venezuela.

And they're known for being very chill.

I'm sure you guys have seen them on the internet.

They've done plenty of things, plenty of viral videos.

But these guys are... they have almost no natural predators.

It's mainly only jaguars and caiman.

So they really don't fear many other animals in their natural habitat.

These guys also really like the water.

So you'll see they have webbed feet if you want to look at their toes.

I do have some snacks for you guys to feed them today.

They won't bite you.

They're super friendly.

They're just interested in what we're doing right now.

Gilbert, could we shift this way?

So who's your little friend right there that just hopped off?

I know, he's going to do that.

That's Gilbert.

He is a four-year-old squirrel monkey.

He came to us when he was about three months old, so he kind of grew up here.

Him and I are super good friends, but right now he's kind of in his teenage boy phase, so some days we're friends and some days we're not.

Girls are yucky, that sort of phase?

Yes, exactly.

Gilbert, could you hop down?

And what are they like?

What's their personality?

They're really fun all the time.

They kind of climb all over us for their snacks.

And self-serve food, I see.

We have to have the right snacks.

bananas, grapes and peanuts, but they have those in very small quantities because of the sugar content.

So who are we holding here, Michelle?

This is Snappy.

He's our six-year-old alligator.

Snappy was a rescue from the SPCA, along with his two other brothers.

Everybody's interested in them.

Some people are a little bit afraid, but not much.

Everybody loves to touch them, especially their tails.

Their tails are super long and underneath their bellies are super soft, so everybody loves to pet them there.

These are two of our new ring-tailed lemurs at the game farm this year.

This guy is Chandler and that is Monica.

They're originally from Madagascar, but these two were born and bred in a zoo called Zoo at Forest Park.

They're really relaxed all of the time.

They're kind of like cats is the best way I would describe it.

>>They're pretty.

I mean, the coloring, the markings, they're really very attractive.

>>They're gorgeous and they have very long tails that have rings on them.

And as they age, the rings change.

You can see they do have very sharp cat-like teeth, but luckily they're so sweet and they do not use those on us.

>>We have an arm of the Game Farm now that's non-profit, which allows us to work with Boy Scouts.

Right now I'm working on our second Eagle Scout project.

What we're very, very excited about is this MODIS Wildlife Tower.

It's a worldwide tool.

Anybody can use the data.

Tiny, tiny little transmitters on them.

They're putting them on butterflies, they're putting them on dragonflies, they're putting them on bats and birds, and anything that's been tagged that passes through this area in 16 kilometers, we'll pick it up and then register it if you're following monarch butterflies.

We know where they start, we know where they end up, what happens in between.

Every year we're trying to make changes, bring it up to speed in a better way, always animals first, but also adding things for the people, like we have a new playground.

Suffolk County gave us money with their Jump Smart program, and we were able to redo our stage.

So we have a beautiful stage, and we do the songbird sessions on our stage.

The songbird sessions are concerts in the summer and the evening.

When you buy a ticket, you get early entry to the game farm, and you can visit the animals, get some dinner, wine and beer, and enjoy the concert.

The Jump Smart program also gave us money to repair that trail, which is called the Woodland Trail.

It starts up by the ticket booth and it goes around the back and ends up by the stage.

And it's universal access, so you can use a wheelchair, a stroller, no bikes allowed though.

We get people that come from Queens and Brooklyn and Nassau County and they say they come out here because they like the feel of it.

My dream would be that the park just gets better and better.

And perhaps in a hundred years it could become a nature park.

But I want it to be a place for Long Islanders to come and get back to nature.

But it's very peaceful and people think we're in the middle of nowhere.

After strolling the grounds of the Long Island Game Farm, maybe you'd like to sit down, relax, and enjoy some locally produced wine.

There are many places on the East End to do that.

One of the newer spots is right here, Route 25 in Jamesport.

Let's pay a visit to the Main and Mill House.

This beautiful place was built in the 1800s and it was a Tuthill family farm.

So the Tuthills, as you know, Doug, are one of the East End and the North Forks original families in farming.

And they sold the farm in the, I want to say the 70s, 1970s, to the McCabe family.

And at that point, they raised their family here.

And then the 2000s came, early 2000s, and John Mazur of Lumber and Salt purchased this property and it has become a tasting room for Sherwood House.

And then we took over in 2024.

So many wineries out here are former potato barns.

100%.

This has the feel of a house, which makes sense.

Yes.

That's what it was.

Yes.

And it's great because it does give a nice cozy atmosphere.

It's a little challenging sometimes because it is so compartmentalized and it is a house.

The original construction or the original design of the space was very rustic and stunning.

But the owners, when they took over the space, wanted to change it a little.

Our other space, Rose Hill, has a very rustic theme, they wanted something a little different here, and so they came up with a theme of like old Hollywood or 1920s New York.

Very Gold Coast, very Gatsby, and if you look outside, you have the palm trees, you have the striped cabana umbrellas, a lot of pops of black and white and a little bit of color and a ton of greenery, and it really does make you feel like you're not in Jamesport anymore.

This is our fireplace room, because we have this iconic fireplace.

In the wintertime, this is the spot where everybody wants to be.

We decorate this so beautifully around the holidays.

You want to be in this room, for sure.

We have this beautiful little hallway area, which is just a little tucked away space, where people like to go and to be a little bit quieter.

We have the front wine room where we have all the wine on the walls, so it's kind of our little library with another beautiful comfortable couch.

And then we have a little room in the front with these old British tavern seats, almost like pews, and so we call that our tavern room.

So we have the tavern room, the wine room, the fireplace room.

We have our sun room right outside.

People love to sit out there, especially when it's raining, because it is covered and you just hear the rain come down, but you're not getting wet.

We took over the space in January of 2024, but we didn't open until June of 2024, and that's because six months worth of renovations happened here.

They also built this brand new, beautiful bar behind us, which is, again, handcrafted and custom made by Lumber and Salt by John and Brooke.

The panels that you see here, these were actually doors from an Italian embassy in Europe, so they were able to salvage these and bring them over, and they knew that they needed to be something.

So they made it into and custom created this insanely gorgeous bar for us.

And behind the bar, this very eye-catching too, what's this?

Isn't it gorgeous?

So it's not only stunning, but it's incredibly functional.

But in terms of the piece itself, it's an antique mercantile cabinet used for display and commerce.

We use it for everything.

Those little drawers, they're a godsend.

We put everything in there.

I know it's a very unique mirror too.

The mirror is made up of brass plaques from hotels, old hotels and salvaged hotels in New York City.

And what's so special about it is that John and Brooke handcrafted that themselves.

It's not something they found, it's something they created.

So they had these plaques, they collected these plaques and they decided to make this stunning piece.

And now it's art, as far as I'm concerned.

And that's what's really special about this space entirely, is that there's always a conversation everywhere you go.

There's a conversation about the bar, about the mirror, about the fireplace, about the fountain outside.

So the wines at Main & Mill run from sparkling rosés right through to big, full, Cabernet-based reds.

We have our poppy, which is our sparkling rosé.

We have our Daisy, who's actually named after Daisy Buchanan from the Great Gatsby.

That's our Sauvignon Blanc that's very popular.

It's our third vintage of it.

People love it, especially in the summertime.

We have Trinity, which is a Reserve Merlot, which is very popular.

We also have Shirley Temples on our menu.

So can't say that we don't welcome children.

We absolutely do.

We offer, of course, a charcuterie board, as most places will.

But we also offer pigs in a blanket and tater tots, and tater tots with caviar.

You can make a whole meal out of it if you want to.

We have shrimp cocktail from Bronze that we offer.

We offer a house-made honey goat cheese dip that people have requested to go.

And of course, we're not not gonna carry North Fork potato chips from our neighbors, the cider family, 'cause they're the best.

And they're the best people, and they're the best neighbors, and they're the best chips, let's be honest.

You are set back, there's no big flashy sign or anything?

Yeah.

People say, "We drove by you and never knew you were here," all the time.

But there is something to be said for the subtlety of it, because again, there's so much history and there's so much character in this corridor.

We're staying with that, obviously.

We're not trying to stand out or stick out like a sore thumb.

We love when people just find their comforts.

And again, it is a home.

And ultimately, because it's a home, we want people to feel at home.

Yes, it is elegant.

And yes, it has this beautiful high-end feel.

But if you aren't feeling that warmth and that comfort of home, then people won't come back.

So it's nice that they get both, the best of both worlds.

Our next stop on the East End isn't a fancy resort in the Hamptons or one of those new high-end restaurants on the North Fork, but a very unassuming spot that's been attracting tourists here for more than 50 years.

Let's pay a visit to the Jamesport Country Store.

My mom started in 1973.

And she was working in Bayshore, left her job in Bayshore, moved out here.

And I bought the building and she opened the store in 1973.

So we're here 53 years now.

Building was the old telephone company.

It was a switching station.

It was built in 1922.

Were you involved much?

Not really.

I mean, I would help her out.

You know, when I was living in Manhattan, I'd come home weekends and help her out and stuff like that.

Yeah.

And what was, you know, 19 the early 70s, tourism was nowhere near what it is today.

But what was it like out here and who was.

Well, they always said after Labor Day, you sleep out on the main road in a sleeping bag.

You wouldn't have to worry about getting run over.

How would you describe your place?

I always say we play host to both local and traveling folks for their gift-giving needs.

That's always been my motto here.

We sell, you know, candy, retro candy.

We try and support the local artisans out here -- the jams, the jellies, salad dressings, and local honey is a big item here.

And then, of course, the local artisans.

We sell a lot of vintage art.

We try and carry stuff that was well-known artists on the North Fork-- t-shirts, sweatshirts, and a lot of souvenirs of the North Fork.

North Fork's very popular now.

Talk a little bit about the candies.

What are some of the older ones?

Jelly beans, traditional old-fashioned pectin jelly bean.

Tootsie rolls, Mary Jane's, peanut jellies.

And actually they were made in Long Island for a while.

When we first opened up we sold the real penny candy back in 1973.

And the parents remember that.

I see a lot of signs which I'm really into.

Vintage signs are very popular.

We sell both original and of course reproduction signs.

Is there a certain type that seems to sell most, whether it's a gas station?

Oil by-product signs and of course Coca-Cola stuff, you know.

Just any kind of advertising sign is very popular.

Anything with motor oil or gas.

We have an old Sinclair gas pump outside and we have an old Sinclair sign hanging up on the building.

And talk about the clientele of who you're getting.

Well we get all sorts of people in here.

You know I had a world famous artist in here the other day from the UK, Andy Brown.

And he did a painting of the store over there and he gave it to me.

And he's just traveling through town and he's world famous.

Oh that's wonderful.

So that was kind of interesting.

Yeah but we do, we get all sorts of people in here.

And locals obviously?

Oh yes definitely.

I mean people ask me what's the busiest month.

It's not the summertime, it's December.

It's the local people who support us, yes.

And how have you seen the North Fork change?

I feel like it was just a massive explosion.

It was, yeah.

Well, you know, I always felt the North Fork was a blue-collar vacation area.

It's changing a little bit now, you know.

Like Block Island was always a blue-collar vacation spot.

You know, that changed.

And so, you know, you can't stop change.

I hear that all the time, yeah.

And they say that this is the first time they've been in.

And I always say to them on the way out, "Well, don't wait 53 years to come back.

I won't be here."

For our next story, we're going to visit a non-profit rescue center in Hampton Bays where injured or abandoned animals are nursed back to health with the hope of being re-released into the wild.

The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center.

We are the East End's only wildlife hospital.

We try to rescue, rehabilitate, and release wild animals that are injured, orphaned, sick.

We just do our best to help them and get them back out.

We get phone calls from people.

We are always out there on social media.

We do education programs to try to raise awareness, to let people know what they can do, how they can help animals, how they can help wildlife.

We try to teach kids.

We give information to them.

If you see something in your yard, we try to talk people through it.

We'll try to tell them what to do, how to help the animal, what to look for, send us pictures.

If they really can't do it, then we try to send out some of our trained volunteers to go bring the animals to us.

We get a lot of birds, we're gonna get a lot of groundhogs, we'll get baby foxes.

We're the only wildlife hospital that takes raccoons.

We have special raccoon licenses.

So we do take raccoons, we take bats, we take baby season starting.

We're gonna be inundated with baby squirrels, baby birds, ducklings, goslings.

We do humanely euthanized because we don't want an animal to suffer like that.

You know, it even happened with myself when I'd bring home something I found got hit by a car.

I knew it wasn't gonna make it, but I didn't want it to lay there in the road suffering, so I brought it, I brought it here.

We don't have a lot of animals that end up in our education program.

We really don't have any more space to take in more birds, but the eight birds that we have are extremely lucky.

We take We also have a blind squirrel in the back that hopefully, eventually, when we make him a space, he'll be out here.

It's very entertaining.

This is Leona.

She is a long-eared owl.

She's lived here for about seven years now.

She was found by a hunter in Manorville.

She had a very, very severe wing injury to her left side.

It was dragging.

We tried to fix it with rods and pins.

We just couldn't.

So we had to get permission from U.S.

Fish and Wildlife to amputate her entire wing.

Sometimes they're afraid without the wing.

They can get balance issues and have problems with their feet.

But she is a tough little girl.

She's never had any foot problems.

- Those claws, that's unbelievable.

- Yeah, she does have some.

Yeah, she does have some long nails.

These owls, while the smaller breeds do tend to live a shorter lifespan than the bigger birds, this one's a little different.

She can definitely live well into her 20s in the wild.

So hopefully, you know, here in captivity, if she's happy, maybe she'll even live to be about 30.

We have come across absolutely everything under the sun.

If it's wild we've seen it before.

I think last year we had 183 different species of animal in our hospital.

2,600 patients.

In the wintertime we are a little bit slower so spring is our busy season.

All the babies are being born, all of these animals, these songbirds are migrating back to Long Island.

So that's our busiest season.

Pretty much almost every single ailment that I see could in one way or another be traced back to our doing.

Vehicle collisions are probably the number one cause of death or injury in our hospital.

Unfortunately, drive slower.

Drive slower at dusk, drive slower all the time.

But dawn and dusk are, it's really important to keep in mind that that's when a lot of our animals are most active.

And they're running across the street.

They see your headlights.

They're scared.

And then they stop right there.

Possums, squirrels, deer, raccoons, they're all getting hit.

It's also important to try and keep our waters clean.

Runoff from the lawns on Long Island, they're all going into the water where all of our waterfowl are living.

We need to keep our spaces clean.

Hi, buddy.

What are you doing, pretty girl?

I know.

You want to come up?

Up.

Up.

She's beautiful.

She really teaches people about how cool vultures are.

They're really gentle.

I think from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons and things, you look at them and people always think they're sinister or they're doing something, and they're not.

They're so cool.

They're so gentle.

So your job, your passion, comes with great joys.

You rehabilitate this beautiful little animal and release them.

But also extreme sadness, I'm sure, when you lose them.

It does.

Just talk about that a little.

Sometimes you do run into situations where you have a baby that you find out has some sort of disability that is not going to make him be able to live and thrive out in the wild.

And then you have to come to an extremely difficult decision.

Our ultimate goal is freedom, whether it be freedom from this cage, freedom from this hospital, or freedom from the pain and suffering that they're in.

But what I always try to reassure is that you just saved that animal so much suffering.

Death isn't necessarily the end.

Death is just a freedom of what they were suffering through.

And to end this on a bright note, when you see a release, it has to be the greatest of joys.

Absolute greatest joy.

Absolute greatest joy.

Spring is the time of releases, so we have a lot of overwintered patients that we're able to set free.

We have a swan that's ready to be released today.

Ready?

Let's open this.

Hey buddy, you want to get out?

There we go.

That was a good one.

What was the situation?

She had slipped behind a floating dock and a bulkhead.

And there was a piling there and another metal pipe there.

And she just was trapped and probably just couldn't get her wings out and spent a day or two or three struggling and exhausted herself.

And like I said, we were-- Kathleen and I were able to rescue her and get her back to the center.

And they took great care of her and cleaned her up.

And she's all nice and white now.

She was all covered in grease and oil.

When I finally got a hold of her, she gave me a... You know?

But she had no strength.

-So what is this moment like for you?

-It's a happy moment.

But this is what we do it for, you know?

We're animal lovers, and this is what we love to see, is the animal back in the wild.

-And this is Miss Meek.

She actually has been here since she was about three days old.

-Three days old?

-Yeah, one of our rescuers went to get her from Jamesport.

She fell out of a nest, but she had really, really severe injuries.

She had two broken wings.

She had a broken pelvis.

-Oh, that's so sad.

-She had a really good appetite, so they, probably in that situation, they would have euthanized her because they would have not thought that she would have been able to make it, but she had a good appetite and was perky, so they said, "Let's see what happens."

So they decided to train her and make her an education ambassador.

I mean, always with owls, the eye is just so intense.

Yeah, very cool.

Owls' eyes are fixed in their head, so they can't move them.

So that's why they have to move their head physically.

They can go 270 degrees.

Wow.

So they can't flip all the way around, but they can go, say, six slices on an eight-slice pizza.

They can look in basically whatever direction they want.

The message that means the most to me as an animal lover and working here, this doesn't just belong to us.

It belongs to all of us.

And we share the space with all these incredible animals and we need them.

And they need the space too.

And they really need to be protected.

And they're not nuisances.

They are just trying to get by.

They're just trying to get by.

They're trying to raise their families and find food and shelter.

And I really just try to really hone that in with all these kids and everything.

These are our neighbors and we have to take care of them.

If you guys don't grow up taking care of them, who will?

I mean, we have birds that got shot, you know, and kids will ask me, "Well, why did someone shoot them?"

And I don't know, like, don't be that person.

You have to be the person that takes care of them and teaches other people, don't hurt them.

Let them be, you know, don't throw rocks at the gulls and do stupid things like that.

You know, you have to really just realize they live here too.

(upbeat music) - To see more of my East End segments, go to newsday.com/outeast.

Well, we have plenty of more things to show you in the months ahead, including on our next show, the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead.

We'll show you some of the outdoor activities here you may not be familiar with, including the Eye Opener Activity Center.

I'm Doug Gede.

Thanks for watching "Out East" on Newsday TV.

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