Local Animal Nonprofits Rescue, Rehabilitate, Release and Find Forever Homes

With the South Fork’s rich history and bountiful wildlife, different nonprofits are dedicated to helping out even the smallest of creatures.

Nonprofits like the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation take in surrendered pets and give them the gift of a new home through vast marketing and providing care — and not just on a local level. They have taken in animals who were victims of natural disasters across the country and internationally, too.

But for animals other than cats, dogs and bunnies, other local organizations are helping out wildlife that have become sick or injured, like deer, foxes and various types of birds. The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center and the Quogue Wildlife Refuge have made it their mission to rehabilitate wildlife and release them back home healthier than ever, while the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center uses education to foster relationships between people and the local environment.

These groups use the gifts of donors to provide voices to the voiceless in more ways than one.

Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons

Appropriately nicknamed “ARF,” the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons is celebrating 50 years of rescue.

“We’ve been in the community a long time,” said Kim Nichols, ARF’s executive director. “We were established by our founding mothers who were three women that saw pets being abandoned and needed to do something about it. They couldn’t sit by.”

ARF started out as a foster-based program, but the founders quickly realized that they needed a shelter to house all of the abandoned animals. Land was eventually donated, and the nonprofit built a space that not only gives the animals a comfy place to sleep but also holds an animal hospital for vets to keep an eye on them.

Nichols said ARF primarily takes in cats and dogs and has three components that help prepare them to get them adopted out: daily care, medical care and behavioral care.

A big number of rescues are animal surrenders — from Manhattan to Montauk — which are often senior pets who are not able to be taken care of by their owners anymore.

“People are either going into a nursing home or pass away, and the family isn’t capable of taking care of a pet,” Nichols said. “The reality is that a lot of the shelters are full so we get a lot of calls,” she said.

On average, ARF houses 120 to 150 animals at a time, but that fluctuates depending on who’s getting adopted. And to help care for these soon-to-be pets, Nichols said ARF works closely with volunteers for a variety of different opportunities. For example, Operation Cat has been around for 30 years and offers spaying, neutering and vaccination for stray cat colonies, and volunteers are essential for walking dogs or spending time sitting and talking to the animals.

“That makes all the difference,” Nichols said. “Human interaction and understanding that people are good is life changing.” Currently, ARF has about 140 volunteers sporadically.

“What’s great about animal rescue is that there are so many people who care and do whatever it takes to get them adopted,” Nichols added. “We couldn’t do it without them.”

Operating solely on donations, gifts from generous donors are essential to continuously helping out the animals in more ways than one.

“Donations are essential,” Nichols said. “We have a brand-new facility, but the reality is the day-to-day medical cost of taking care of the animals is very high.”

ARF is hoping to continue offering microchipping clinics for pet owners and to rescue more cats and dogs. The nonprofit wants to keep the momentum up of adopting out more animals that are looking for forever homes.

All the animals available for adoption can be found at arfhamptons.org or on Instagram at @arfhamptons.

Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center

Soon to be celebrating its 25th birthday, the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center was founded by two Suffolk County employees who during their commute would see dozens of injured animals on the side of the road. When they retired, they decided to open a rescue center dedicated to helping animals big and small.

Executive Director Kathleen Mulcahy said the rescue center receives thousands of phone calls every year from all over the country.

“We spend a lot of time advising people,” she said. “If a squirrel fell out of its nest, we teach people how to renest it.”

But those are just phone calls. Mulcahy said that about 3,000 animals are brought on-site every year. They range from baby squirrels to possums, raccoons and grown swans, plus song birds of every kind.

Mulcahy said that the center’s mission is to rescue, rehab and release injured animals, plus educate the community on what to do if they find an animal in need.

“On average, we probably release about 50 percent,” Mulcahy said. “We’re very proud of ourselves.”

And the scenarios vary. Recently the rescue center was working on helping a deer who got a garbage can stuck around her neck. A seagull come in with the worst fishing hook injury the staff at the center has ever seen, and a local swan had a broken wing.

“It’s so, so sad,” she said. The animals injured beyond repair are still taken to Evelyn Alexander, and the staff makes sure they pass away with dignity.

“It’s heartbreaking at times, but really rewarding,” Mulcahy said. “Even with the heartbreaking, you’re helping an animal have a more peaceful passing, and we all deserve that.”

With a small full-time staff, the center relies on volunteers to help with an array of jobs. Whether it’s walking the education animals outside for fresh air, or doing laundry (they go through a lot of towels), they also have a long list of rescue volunteers who will go out to retrieve injured animals and bring them to the Hampton Bays facility. Mulcahy said the issue the rescue center faces with volunteers is that many calls occur during the summer or on weekends when many people are not around.

“We have about 150 volunteers, but we could still double that,” Mulcahy said. “There’s nothing more rewarding than going out and being able to capture something like a bald eagle or a great horned owl, and a week later take it back to where you found it and let it go.”

Compared to other rehabbers, the rescue center has a full animal hospital with an x-ray machine as well as a full rabies sector so raccoons can be taken in from all over Suffolk County.

While always looking for more volunteers, the nonprofit is also starting to need more room due to the influx of animals it helps. The rescue center is also trying to break ground on an education center so the community can come for educational programming.

“So many animals who come to us really could have stayed at home,” Mulcahy admitted. “For example, we can teach people how to rebuild a bunny nest and teach dogs to stay away from it.”

Mulcahy was semi-retired when she began her work at Evelyn Alexander Rescue Center but said she is so happy she took that step and became involved.

“It’s a wonderful way to meet people. Although I lived here my whole life, I was getting to know different people,” she said. “It also helps your heart feel good.”

For more information, visit wildliferescuecenter.org.

Quogue Wildlife Refuge

The Quogue Wildlife Refuge is 305 acres, with seven miles of hiking trails, that allow people to explore a variety of habitats and the wildlife that lives there.

Cara Fernandes, a program director at the refuge, said that from sunrise to sunset, people can hike the Pine Barrens and visit a lot of different beautiful spots. But their bread and butter are taking care of injured wildlife, and educating everyone from children to adults on the environment and the animals within it.

“Once animals are deemed nonreleasable, they then come to us,” Fernandes said.

Since 1934, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge has been a nature preserve that is home to diverse wildlife including some that are permanently injured and require human care to survive. Owls, falcons, hawks and other native New York animals that have permanent injuries are housed in the Outdoor Wildlife Complex and can be visited any day of the year. Inside of the Nature Center, wildlife exhibits are shown of live animals that house surrendered pets like turtles, snakes and chinchillas.

“All of the animals that we take care of we teach with, in schools and libraries with live animal presentations,” Fernandes said. “We show them how to help them in the wild and discuss how certain animals might not make the best pets.”

She added that this programming has been shown from Manhattan to Montauk, but mostly serves Suffolk County.

The Quogue Wildlife Refuge also offers a variety of nature-related programs for all ages. Throughout the year, visitors look forward to big events such as their Earth Day celebration, annual barbecue, summer ecology program and annual benefit gala. They also hold a summer camp for children age 4 to 12th grade.

Fernandes added that the refuge runs on donations from generous gift-givers. One way to give back is by becoming a member, which gives guests exclusive perks for a yearly fee.

“We love when people become a member of the refuge because that helps fund our care of the property and keep it open for visits the whole calendar year,” she said. While being used for animal care and maintenance of grounds, Fernandes added that they are starting to fundraise money to renovate their Nature Center. “There will be more space for staff to work and increase the capacity for educational programming.”

Originally founded solely by volunteers, the refuge is still accepting people to donate their time to help in different ways like with trail work and special events.

“A lot of people who have been volunteers here have been doing it for over 10 years,” Fernandes said.

Open year-round, Fernandes said the refuge is “a great place to relax, view native wildlife and escape from the everyday grind.”

She said that in the winter, hikers will see an array of different exciting wildlife like migratory ducks that come down from Canada while the spring and summer brings out turtles and different insects like dragonflies.

For more information, visit quoguewildliferefuge.org.

Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation

The Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF) is a special place, according to its executive director, Anthony Sabia. An open-admission, no-kill shelter, it relies heavily on private donations to serve animals in 25 hamlets and villages.

Sabia said that along with fostering animals locally, SASF is dedicated to bringing in animals from kill shelters across the country and in the Caribbean.

“We do approximately 600 adoptions per year,” he said. “This includes dogs, cats and any other companion animals … birds, roosters, hamsters, reptiles — everything and anything we take in.”

In addition to other surrendered animals, they take in many dogs who are typically perceived to be difficult to adopt like pit bulls, older dogs, larger dogs and dogs with health or behavioral issues.

“It makes our model that much harder, but our team does a great job in getting these animals adopted,” he said.

Sabia said that SASF provides all their animals with different comprehensive services including vet care, spaying and neutering, minor surgeries, dental care, training and nurturing.

“A lot goes into our formula to give our animals a home,” he added.

One of the biggest issues they’re seeing is the high number of surrenders in a post-pandemic world.

“With the COVID era, a lot of people adopted, and it was good and well, but once we got back to normal and people could no longer work remotely, that coupled with inflation has led to a lot of surrenders of both cats and dogs,” he said. “We’ve been maxed to capacity because of those factors, but it stems from our mission that we want to take in every animal. We don’t want them to be referred to a town shelter where there’s euthanasia.”

Sabia said SASF relies on the help of volunteers for things like the socialization process of dogs and cats and people willing to walk the dogs outside. SASF intends to update its facility, too, and is working on raising funds to do that.

“We want to build a state-of-the-art facility and provide the best medical care and space to serve more animals,” he said. They also would like to expand their mobile health clinic to reach more of the community for spaying and neutering.

On average, SASF houses about 45 to 50 dogs, 125 cats or kittens and a handful of rabbits. All the animals available for adoption are posted online at southamptonanimalshelter.com.

South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center

The South Fork Natural History Museum (SOFO) and Nature Center is the only natural history museum on the South Fork. Founded in 1988 by a group of local naturalists, the museum moved to its permanent location in Bridgehampton in 2005 and has been enlightening the community ever since.

“We became popular as a place where people can learn about the natural world — nobody on the East End was doing this,” Executive Director Frank Quevedo said. “What makes us unique is we’re open here year-round to anyone who wants to come in and learn about the environment and how we can sustain it.”

Open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., seven days a week, SOFO houses live animals that are used in interactive and educational exhibits.

“Our mission is to go outside and encounter nature up close,” Quevedo said. And by doing that, SOFO also tells the story of Long Island’s South Fork through discovery, exploration, education and engagement.

SOFO hyper-focuses on species native to the East End of Long Island. Quevedo said SOFO chooses to highlight local animals because “we feel people know more about exotic animals than what’s in their backyard and we try to emphasize the education necessary to understand what is right here on Long Island.”

“If people don’t know about something, how are they going to protect it?” he asked.

Visitors are accompanied by the museum’s environmental educators as they experience the museum’s galleries, featuring live and recreated natural habitat exhibits, colorful floor-to-ceiling photo murals of forests, ponds and ocean landscapes, a Marine Touch Tank where visitors can, in the water, hold sea stars, crabs, urchins and whelks, along with terrariums and aquariums that feature local wildlife.

SOFO also houses a Native Butterfly Garden and Native Wildflower Garden where visitors can take nature walks through a 40-acre preserve and explore through a six-mile trail seeking out ponds, woods and wetlands home to rare plants, animals and ecological communities.

Education Director Melanie Meade said SOFO also provides programming for many local public and private schools and adult groups who can interact with the animals.

“We provide a resource to the teachers and tailor the programming seasonally,” she said. “We’ve become an end of the school year destination.” Meade added that she often hears the kids say, “this was the best field trip ever” as they get to experience ecology first-hand.

Quevedo said that in the habitat surrounding the museum, visitors will often see foxes, turtles, eagles, salamanders, owls and more. “It’s in a fabulous location,” he said.

And on top of maintaining a museum and preserve, and providing educational services to the community, SOFO also participates in research for animals like salamanders and sharks on the South Fork.

“We continue to collect data to provide to the scientific community that will protect the species,” he said. “We’re happy that we’re not just informing, but we’re also reaching a new level of working with that community.”

Quevedo said donations are the key in keeping the museum going and expanding along the way.

“The goal is to continue the mission that was started many years ago,” he said. “The only way is to keep collaborating and expanding our resources.”

SOFO offers a membership program that gives members special perks. They also work closely with volunteers and offer a docent program to those interested in donating their time. “We open our doors to anyone who wants to come in,” Quevedo said.

“SOFO does the best, and what excels us is teaching families to become stewards of our Earth, which is really important right now,” said Diana Aceti, the director of development and special events.

Aceti mentioned that their annual summer gala also brings in funds dedicated to programming, environmental initiatives and scholarships.

“Even $50 makes a big difference in the long run,” she said. “Gifts of all sizes are appreciated. That’s what keeps us going.”

For more information, visit sofo.org.