Meet Toucan Mick!

Toucan Mick has been with us for three years now. He is a Keel Billed Toucan who was being sold on the streets by a drug addict for $10. That's right $10. His next fix. A very nice lady bought him and immediately took him to the Fish and Wildlife offices and they called me to go pick him up! This photo is when he arrived, is after I had washed his beak several times with warm water and a toothbrush. He had a cement like mixture of feces, fruit and dirt all stuck to his beak. You could not see any of the colors. He started to go into shock the first night here because he was so dehydrated, so we pumped him full of fluids for several days and he made a great comeback. We named him Mick, because he had this peculiar habit once he started to eat well, of sticking his tongue out and shaking his head. He was having trouble with the normal food after being so sick, so he is named after Mick Jagger, of the Rolling Stones!

It took several months and several different medications to get Mick healthy again, but as you can see he has turned into a lovely great guy. When toucans are dehydtated we notice the more intense coloration around the eyes, and as the normalize the color becomes more natural and lighter. Mick was recently attacked by very large aggressive bees that swarmed the toucan aviary, he was stung several times on the skin around his eyes, but fortunately we got him out in time and we started medications, he took a few weeks to recover, but he is the every ready bunny, he keeps on going!

He is not a candidate to be released because of his history of coming in so sick and he is totally accustomed to people.