Long Island Game Farm opens new alligator exhibit in Manorville
The Game Farm's new alligator habitat adds three juvenile gators, daily feedings and a $30,000 compliance-driven draw for Manorville families.
Long Island Game Farm will open a new alligator exhibit in Manorville with three juvenile North American alligators named Snappy, Al and River, a $30,000 habitat designed to meet New York’s dangerous-animal rules. The park set a grand opening for July 25, with a rain date of July 26, and plans daily Gator Talk and Feedings at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation rules require a dangerous animal license for listed species, and the permit is good for one year, cannot be used to keep an animal as a pet, and carries conditions for scientific, educational, exhibition, zoological or propagation purposes. Fixed exhibits must be open to the public at least 90 days a year with regular viewing hours, along with safeguards that include primary caging, a double-door entry system, perimeter and public barriers, insurance coverage and uniquely identifiable tagging or marking. The state’s alligator rules in 6 NYCRR 182.14 also require proper registration or permit for import or possession of alligators, caimans and crocodiles.
Park president Melinda Novak said the Game Farm had to redesign the habitat to meet those requirements while still making it feel like a natural setting. Sound Shore Ponds, Inc. built the exhibit, which includes warm basking areas, shaded spots and a large water feature. The development took about five years.
The alligators are an educational display rather than a rescue of wild animals. Novak said none of the three came from the wild: one arrived from an SPCA and the other two came from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida, a zoological park with wildlife research and conservation work. Novak estimated the animals are 5 or 6 years old and about 3 feet long now, though they could eventually grow to 10 to 12 feet. If they outgrow the space, the park may have to move them to Florida or another zoo.
Long Island’s largest children’s zoo and wildlife park first opened in spring 1970 on a 26-acre hay and cattle farm bought by Stanley and Diane Novak in 1969. The Foundation for Wildlife Sustainability launched in partnership with the park in February 2023.
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