Fall Update!
We have been so busy that I have not kept up the Blog!! Sorry, here are some of the highlights of the last few months!
Meet River Otter Emma, who came to us as a tiny baby from the Sarapiqui River. She was involved in an incident of children on vacation swimming in the river who decided to throw rocks and separate her from her family. Very sad. Fortunately another lady who came to the river with her children realized what was happening, scolded the children and tried to get the baby otter to go back into the river and she would not swim away. So the lady stuck Emma in her purse and took her to the wildlife official who then drove over the mountains in the pouring down rain on a Saturday night to deliver her to our care. After a rocky start she is thriving!
Meet Gigi Great Grison, our first weasel!! She is very similar to Emma, webbed feet, enjoys playing like crazy with Emma (separated, but they can interact). She came into the program because her mother was poisoned. She was very ill, and has since then gained lots of weight and is growing into a lovely weasel. Gigi was featured on TV as an ambassador to other grisons, we did some education and asked people to please protect them and not poison them just because they are different and people are not familiar with them.
Meet Cooper! Tiny three toed sloth that came into The Toucan Rescue Ranch in August! My mother and niece were waiting for me at the airport while I was receiving and caring for Cooper! He had lots of babysitters his first few days, which was a good thing, he needed the warmth and care.
We have also received 12 new toucans these past months, a record of toucans coming into the program. Some were confiscated pets, others juveniles and babies fallen from nests. We are receiving birds and animals from all over the country, sometimes they drive for a full day, all the way from the border to bring them to us. We have had to turn down many, and sadly it is clear that we are running out of space, but we refuse to overcrowd enclosures and we need to keep our current animals happy and healthy.
A Record of Releases!
We released Coco our rescued Squirrel and have not seen her at all, hopefully she will come back to visit someday to let us know she survived.
We also have successfully released the baby Striped owlets that were born here, and they have come back to visit, so that is really fun to be out at night and hear them calling!
And also little Armandito the Armadillo grew up! was hunting bugs in the dirt on his own, so we released him right here on the property. Although I have not seen him, I have found holes in the ground from an armadillo scouting for food.
We received a large juvenile Black Hawk from Carara National Park, and successfully rehabilitated him and he was released back to the park!! The Minae Park rangers were very excited to see him all recovered. And also a Kite, we were able to release here on the property and another striped owl from a nearby neighborhood.
Successful Breeding of Emerald Tucanets!
Two little ones hatched, here is the father feeding one of them. This is a huge boost to our program, everything we are learning about breeding, the nest logs, diets, duration of babies in the nest etc. We are applying to the larger toucans to hopefully be successful in breeding the Keel billed toucans for eventual release.
We are working on the website constantly, so please stay in touch with the site, and Facebook as well.
Exciting new projects in the works!! Will post soon about our campaign to fund raise for a much needed clinic. Your help and support are needed!!
.JPG)
