Capybaras Mocha, Latte and Macchiato are the stars of the Capybara Café in St. Augustine, where viral fame is helping save animals in need at a local sanctuary.

St. Augustine

A café in St. Augustine, Florida, is drawing visitors by offering the unique experience of sipping coffee alongside capybaras, the world's largest rodents native to South America. The Capybara Café was established as a creative way to support the nearby Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary, which faced funding challenges during the pandemic.

Guests can pay an entry fee to feed, pet, and spend time with capybaras, with all profits going to animal care efforts. The café's popularity has led to the opening of a second location in St. Petersburg and plans for further expansion. The initiative aims to both delight visitors and raise awareness about wildlife conservation.

This Florida café lets you sip coffee with capybaras

Now to a story about a beloved animal that few Americans knew about before it went viral online. I didn't. We are talking about the capybara. The South American creature is now helping support the care of other at-risk animals. Manuel Borges takes us to the capybara cafe in Florida. There aren't many places where you can pair your cup of joe with a capybara. But here at the capybara cafe in St. Augustine, Florida... We're going to be feeding the capybaras. We're going to feed them with a flat hand on the ground. They are the main attraction. You take a piece of kale just like this. Justin Borges is head supervisor of the animal care team. And you just put it right there in front of their face. They're very, very gentle about it. What is a capybara? A capybara is the world's largest rodent. They are native to South America. Basically, you can think about a guinea pig that got to be 100, 150 pounds. They have become hugely popular on social media, especially with young people who think they're simply cute. But to learn more about how this place came to be a capybara cafe, you have to visit the nearby Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary, where anything from goats to tortoises who need help are rehabilitated. This sanctuary, however, runs on donations, which all but dried up during the COVID pandemic. Eventually, it became an idea that we need to come up with something creative to get funding, or we're going to have to shut our doors and leave some of these animals out on the street. They happened to hear about capybara cafes out in, like, Tokyo, Japan. They thought, well, we could probably do something similar to that. Our capybaras can also actually bark, similar to how a dog or a prairie dog would. Enter their three big cappies, aptly named Mocha, Latte, and Macchiato. They're so adorable. There are pups, too. For an entry fee, you can leave the cafe lobby and head into one of these rooms, where people can feed, pet, or just hang out with these laid-back rodents. It might have something left this afternoon. And boy, has it caught on. Okay, no, I don't. Let me try tomorrow. David and Sam came from Atlanta. So did you come here on vacation? We did, but specifically for this. You came specifically for this? We planned the whole trip around. Is that right? Annie-Kate and Carter are from Virginia. So tell me, what does your t-shirt say? In my capybara era. In your capybara era. What is it about these animals that you love so much? I just find them, like, so cute. I'm honestly speechless. It was so much fun, like, just being able to see my favorite animal in the world. So you're hoping that people's fascination with these animals educates them about the need to protect. Absolutely. That's the big thing for us, is protecting the animals, conserving wildlife, keeping species out of harm's way. And keeping at least one species, these humans, very happy. Like Philadelphia's Jim Saunders. I follow more capybaras on Instagram than I follow people. Really? Oh, yeah. What is it about them? I don't know. I have no idea. As they say around here, don't worry, be capy. For CBS Mornings, I'm Manuel Bohorquez in St. Augustine, Florida. The cafe's profits go to Noah's Ark and other local sanctuaries. It has been so successful that they opened a second location in St. Petersburg with plans for a third in the Florida Panhandle. Are we all going to the cafe? Yeah. Yes.

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