By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY JERRY WOLKOWITZ Two-year-old Julia Corbisiero of Monroe (above) feeds a deer through a fence at the zoo in Thompson Park. At left, Eugene Tonkery feeds one of the approximately 60 deer residing in the Game Haven at Thompson Park in Monroe.
MONROE — Although most birds migrate south for the winter, the ones at Thompson Park’s Game Haven are staying put, according to Middlesex County Parks Senior Maintenance Supervisor Eugene Tonkery.
"They love it here. … They don’t want to leave," said Tonkery, 58, of Jamesburg.
The Game Haven, which has stood across from the lake at the county-owned park for the past 34 years, has served as a fenced-in home for a plethora of country creatures.
Chickens and ducks galore, domestic turkeys and rabbits, goats, pot-belly pigs, approximately 60 deer, a 10-year-old emu named Big Bird, and longtime resident Lucky the duck are among the approximately 200 animals that reside there.
Every morning at 7, the animals, which are mostly donated by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) or local farms, line up along the gates of the haven as Tonkery, who is the son of former Jamesburg Mayor Joseph Tonkery, dishes out 50 pounds of deer feed with help from Middlesex County Animal Keeper Dan Johnson, 25, of Monroe.
Tonkery and Johnson sprinkle the entire area with a daily supply of cracked corn and pellets for the chickens and birds, and a smorgasbord of molasses, wheat and corn for the 500-pound pot-bellied pigs.
The roughly 100 visitors who come to the Game Haven on any given day can feed the animals just about anything edible, from carrots and lettuce to cornflakes and corn puffs.
"The goats will eat anything," said Tonkery, who noted that the goats recently ate the shingles off the low roof on the maintenance shed.
One of the resident ducks inside the Game Haven.
Watching the animals eat is not the only sight at the Gave Haven this time of year.
This month marks deer-mating season when bucks undergo fierce competition for attention from females. As daylight hours begin to shorten, testosterone levels rise, making bucks more rambunctious, according to Tonkery.
"The bucks have been having nice fights over the does. Two of the bucks’ horns crashed together the other day and one of them ended up in the pond," Tonkery said.
During the spring, visitors can watch as the does give birth to their fawn.
Year-round chicken mating and egg-hatching can be observed as well.
Tonkery, who has been working at the Game Haven for nearly 20 years, said that the job has changed his life. He has even given up hunting.
"The animals are my best friends," he said. "Animals should have a chance to live, too."
The Game Haven is open seven days a week from dusk until dawn.


