Construction Update!

Jou Jou, Kinkajou's Enclosure is finally done!!! It's been very busy here, we don't have many guests in the Bed and Breakfast now, as it is green season, but we are always busy with the animals! Jou Jou was very shy about her new enclosure, at first she had to smell everything, then hide in her box, then come out for her favorite banana, then she got comfortable with me sitting on a wooden stump for an hour playing with her and she is now a happy camper. The first night out she had a stand off with the whistling ducks, they surrounded her cage and she was paceing back and forth, then the ducks got bored and left her alone. She did get a few minor sores on her feet from the cement, but we have fixed that now by adding hay to the bottom of the enclosure. We still need to decorate it with bromeliads from the farm...I'm sure she will love to destroy them!




Charley the Scarlet macaw is now staying out all the time!! She is loving being outside and as you can see, although she is severly handicapped she enjoyed taking her first rainbath!



Our little terror Georgie has been enjoying the sunny days and now can reach out to the almond trees we planted next to the outside climbing gym and can have a snack when he wants!

Please consider a donation to the Teresa fund!! Teresa mottled owl was dropped off here about a week ago, friday night. I was just settling down to dinner and TV (I know it's a bad habit, but relaxing) and I received a phone call from La Condessa hotel in San Rafael. They had our brochure and were trying to identify an owl that their driver had picked up on the side of the road. They said the wing was "bad" and they wondered if they could bring her down. So, I said, yes and at 9pm they arrived with Theresa, a juvenile mottled owl. She was in shock and not feeling very well with her broken wing. She was very dehydrated and in pain. I gave her electrolytes, pain medication, antibiotics, and basic first aide treatment for the wing, it was not severly mangled like the other wings I have seen, but the point of the bone was sticking out. The next morning I was trying to figure out what to do with the broken wing, I thought maybe it could be saved.

I had had a visit from the vet who works at the downtown zoo just a few weeks ago. He was telling me about starting a Raptor Foundation and about the various surgeries he has performed (bone grafts, pins, complicated orthopedic surgeries) to save wings. My first thought was to call him and see what he could do for Teresa. I have a vet on staff now, but she does not do orthopedic surgery like this, so for us it was the consideration of a "double expense". After talking it over with my vet, we decided to take her into the zoo and meet the orthopedic surgeon. He said it would be complicated, but gave her a 50% chance of recovering the wing.

We have so many owls with amputated wings that we felt that if we can give Teresa a chance of keeping the wing we needed to do this for her well being. So, a very long surgery ensued and she is now back with us. She has two internal pins, a outside fixator for the pins and a small bone graft. In two months we will know if she will regain use of the wing...it's going to be a long wait.....and of course expensive...so please consider a Teresa donation to the Toucan Rescue Ranch!!! She will need another surgery to remove the pins once the wing has healed.

My good friend Carol has volunteered to give Teresa flying lessons if and when we get to this point!! She will need to have daily exercise in hopes of release...but for now we are in intensive post opps.

Coco and Lulu are now weaned and in a small cage learning to eat fruits on their own, they had a few setbacks, but are now doing really well.

Millie, Milo and Georgie love hibiscus flowers and we have planted an entire hedge of them so that we are sure there are no chemicals on them!! Yummy treat!

I took this photo of Jorge helping with the construction of Issy's enclosure...note his constant companion and supervisor Josie the goose!

The enclosure will be completed this next week. Very exciting!

Isadora Issy, and I had a fun play afternoon in Jou Jou's enclosure. Before we moved Jou Jou in, I took Issy over there to see her reaction and to start getting her used to being away from the porch. For the first five min. she would not let go of me, but after some coaxing and encouraging she would leave me for a few seconds, and 10 min. later she was having fun exploring. I think she will love her new huge enclosure. It is 8x7 meters. We are going to have a decorating party when it is complete!!

Still trying to get the perfect photo!! Here is the Scintillant, smallest hummer in CR in our front yard!

Our good friend Rita, from Casa Bella Rita Bed and Breakfast donated this display case for our store! Now we have eveything in one place and it looks great on the porch.

Thank You Rita!!

The official greeters, the ducks have taken over the railings.

Adopt Jou-Jou the Kinkajou!

About four days ago, a man that Jorge knows at the farm called us to say that he had found a baby Kinkajou on the ground several months ago. He took it home and was raising it, but that he needed help and wanted to see if we would accept the animal. We talked about it and said yes, that was fine. I expected the Kinkajou to be healthy, and getting bigger and I assumed that is why he wanted to give it up, since it was no longer a baby, nocturnal and can be a real handful. So, you will understand when I prepared a large kennel, and sent Jorge up to the highway to a drop off point so that he could receive it. About an hour before they were suppose to meet, the guy calls us and says, "the kinkajou is very sad, not doing well at all"
I called back to clarify and ask more questions, but that is all he could say.



Jorge took off to go pick up the Kinkajou, returned home with tears in his eyes and said, "Look at this, how can anyone have an animal in these conditions, call the vet immediately!" I took one look at the poor little animal and decided we had to get her out of that stupid crate as soon as possible, so Jorge went to get some large wire cutters and we cut her out. She was in shock, freezing cold, and biting her tail, as she did not know what she was doing. I called the vet and said, please hurry she is more dead than alive...

We got to work quickly, she was wet and horribly soiled, we dried her off in the sun, tried to give some hydrating fluids and she was not doing well at all. Heating pad, more fluids and warmth for about an hour and she finally looked up and the color started coming back to her skin. By then the vet showed up and did a good check on her. We have started antibiotics and now have a protocol for the Kinkajou...our first.

All through the day she would sleep and wake up and eat a little fruit and each time she was looking better, so the initial scare of immediate death was over, and I was greatly relieved. She even bit me at one point when I touched her feet. As you can see in the photos, she has sores all over her feet and tail, from the wet and dirty conditions that she was kept in, so we are also treating these!



Last night I woke up at 3am to check on her and she had not eaten, but when I held her she did eat some fruit and was hungry, so that was a good sign.

And as you can see this morning, she is hungry and looking at all her food options! Still sleeping lots, which is to be expected, as well as the fact that they are nocturnal, but overall has made great progress.

She is skin and bones, completely emaciated, so diet is going to be very important, not only for her development, but also for her fur....which is not soft, and lacking in spots. She should have a good solid coat of honey colored fur.



According to my Costa Rican mammal book, the word Kinkajou originated with indigenous people of Brazil. It is also know as a honey bear, and the Latin name, Potos Flavus meaning Yellow drinker.
They belong to the same family as the raccoon, have a prehensile tail and are arboreal.

So please "Adopt" little Jou-Jou for the holidays, we will send you a nice certificate, 5x7 photo and have regular updates on this blog about her! $100 donations can be made to pay pal, on the website, and e-mail me the address of who the Adoption Certificate should be made out to and sent!

A wonderful holiday gift, knowing that you are helping with her needs. Or if you have another animal in mind of course this would also be welcomed, you can "Adopt" one of the Sloths, Toucans, Parrots, Issy the spider monkey or Quilla the porcupine or one of the many owls!

I thought that maybe we would receive a phone call from the guy asking how she was doing, but he never called, just asked us to "save her" and I am happy to report that indeed she was saved, half an hour longer in that condition and she would of been gone for good. She decided to live and we are happy for her.

Thank you all for your support!

P.S. With the kind help of two friends of The Toucan Rescue Ranch, the amazon in the previous post is now having blood tests done and various other lab work to try and determine the cause of the air sac problems! She is currently living at the vets and everyone is falling in love with her since she is so friendly and talks non-stop! Thank you all for your support, it means the world to us and our animals!