New arrivals and fun visitors!

Meet Andy sloth!  Andy is our first three toed sloth to arrive at the Toucan Rescue Ranch.  He was found on the ground after a couple of males were fighting over a female, his mom, who lost him in the fight and took off from the males and the area.  Very sad, but fortunately someone found him and he is now safe and doing well here with us.  He is so different from the two toed's it's like having a completely different species.  Very slow, only eats leaves and is more awake during the day.  We will keep you posted on his progress.  Initially he was very weak, but with some good formula he is now really doing well.

Ty is really climbing and doing well, he has an obsession with his blankets and tries to take them with him when he climbs!  Twili also just started to climb the perch, so they are learning to share some space!

This poor keel billed toucan was found on the ground in the town near our farm by some of the children.  The mother called us, and we transported him to the Toucan Rescue Ranch.  He came in totally blind from the lacerations on his face and eyes.  We are not sure what these were caused from.  Initially it looked like someone had trapped him in chicken wire (I have seen similar cuts like this from the thin wire) or maybe he was in a fight with another toucan.  After a long recovery period, I am happy to report that he has gained his vision back in one eye.  The other eye keeps changing daily, and he might be able to see something now.  We are waiting for the next vet visit to confirm his progress.

If he recovers sight in both eyes we will happily take him to the farm to release!  Keeping our fingers crossed.

We have many wild birds that live and visit our property, this is a young blue grey tanager.  We found her on the ground, the parents would fly around and come feed her, but it was obvious that she was getting very tired and weak, so we found this abandoned clay colored robin nest, and put her in it near the parents, up off the ground.   They came and fed her for two days, and she left flying with them!

Our good friends, Frank Todd (of penguin fame) Jerry Jennings (famous toucan breeder and conservationist) and Paul Bratescu, professional photographer all visited.  They were here with us for several days, traveled around and returned and now it is weird that they are gone!  We had some great late night conversations about birds, breeding and conservation, I always learn so much from them we enjoy the visits.  Here are some photos of them at the farm and of some of the animals on the farm, that I took.  We had a great few days, monkeys, sloths (5 in one day) toucans and more!



Find the sloth hidden in the bromeliads!



Frank Todd had some photo sessions with Quilla the porcupine and Georgie our sloth!  They posed very nicely for him.  Quilla needed some kisses in between shots, take a look!  Enjoy the blog!  Remember, your kindness and generosity with funding keep us going and able to received these  injured animals, please consider adopting an animal or bird in our program.  On the blog you will find a tab for adoptions.  Thank You!!

Happy Valentine Sloths!

Happy Valentines Day!

We woke up early this morning with a 6.0 earthquake and all the birds throwing themselves around the enclosures, even Issy the monkey was calling to us...always makes my heart pound!

Many of you know that I was in the hospital for a few days after a nasty sloth bite! Well, I am happy to report that I am home and I am fine, after several rounds of antibiotics!
Which brings me to the following! Please send this youtube video around to everyone on your lists, it's a Valentines greeting, a bit of fun but with a serious message.

Adopt a Sloth! To improve the health and quality of life for these special animals, we are making a major push to build the sloth enclosures. They'll finally be out of the house, which will allow the adult sloths much needed space.

Sloth adoptions start at $50. You'll get to adopt your own sloth and follow it on Facebook. At $100 or more, we will send a special photo to you of your sloth. Your support at any level will help us care for these amazing animals, and support the building of a first class home for them.

Sloths have been all over the news lately with the hollywood star Kristen Bell having a "Sloth meltdown" Just type it in to youtube or google to see some funny footage!

So we are dedicating this card to her... those of you with twitter accounts please post this as she is on twitter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfcrdaXuf6w&list=UUeLzXphY2g5ZLwdTGFFg8RA&index=1&feature=plcp

If the link does not work: Please go to http://www.youtube.com/ , type in slothmom channel and you will see a cute video clip of Ty and Twili .

Happy Valentines Day, enjoy the photos and don't forget to Adopt A Sloth by clicking on our website and making a donation thru Pay Pal.
http://www.toucanrescueranch.com/

Please post this on Facebook pages, twitter and send it all around, we need more folks to become involved!

Love,
Leslie, Jorge, and the Sloths...Millie, Milo, Georgie, Ty and Twili

Please "Adopt" us for the Holidays

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Please consider the gift of life and hope to our rescued animals this holiday season!
Years ago I "adopted" a whale and the group that was protecting them sent me photos and updates, I really looked forward to hearing about where "my" whale had been seen, how far he had traveled. It was fun and I learned all about whales. Now we have blogs and internet to help us learn about wild animals and the joys of supporting such efforts :)

Adoption is a great option for those who would like to support our efforts...We have released 5 sloths to date and several this past year. Each sloth that comes into our program is here for a reason: an injury, abandoned, fell from a tree, fights, burns and mistreated by humans.

All of them have to be evaluated by our veterinarian, fed and cared for.

This can add up and we are looking for support for our various sloths.

I will give you some good news!! We have donations for Millie and Georgie enclosures, and will begin these in Jan. Thank you!!

Adoption certificates will be sent along with a photo of your favorite sloth,

Twili, Millie, Milo and Georgie. (I finally found a nice certificate-one that I can print up here...)

Eight years ago we began accepting toucans in need, and we have become known for the excellent work we do recovering these beautiful birds. We have had to say no to some animals, but we will never say no to the toucans. Currently we have 35 in our care. We are setting up a breeding program for release, and have been successful in reproducing the Emerald Toucanets.
Owl Fund! Please do an office pool, or a challenge for support, match the donation, for our 15 owls. We have to purchase from a poultry farm 700 chicks a month to feed them along with supplementing them with rats and mice that we breed here. Some of the most beautiful raptors in Costa Rica, and not many rescue centers accept these owls. We receive owl babies since they are very difficult to raise, and every adult owl that has come into the program has come with severe injuries that require extensive orthopedic surgeries and a long recovery process.

Many of you contributed to Isadora Spider monkey's enclosure and I can tell you that she is so happy and appreciative of her new space. Thank You!! She needs constant food since she is so High Energy, to put it frankly, she eats like a horse! Much of the fruit that we purchase weekly goes to her, little miss piggy. She is doing great and is a joy, loves to visit when we do tours and always shows off her acrobatic skills. Adopting Issy would help us keep up the fruit supply!

Jou Jou is just like Issy in a way, constant energy, totally recuperated and loves her new enclosure!


Pokey is back from the vet's, he lived with them for about a month...now you can imagine if your dog or cat stayed at the vets for that long, you would have a huge bill, well, we considered this a huge bill, but compared to the states, this is not costly at all. $120.00 for all his treatment, and as you can see he is doing so much better after his horrible infection from some animal attacking him. He is finally getting new quills and fur, but will probably have a bald backside :( We hope Quilla our beautiful girl will fall in love with him anyway. Pokey still needs medical treatment, so please consider adopting him!

Adopt an endangered Scarlet Macaw! Our macaws are at breeding age, and we are going to set them up for breeding for release. Young macaws will be placed with other release programs in the country. So, if you are a bird person, please help us support the 30 some parrots in our care! The seed mix and nuts that we feed, (along with fruits and vegetables) are imported, and anything imported is extremely expensive, We use a 23 kilo sack, around 50lbs per week, and this costs around $48, add in the nuts and we are up to $60.

300 pounds of Papaya per week, 20lbs of green beans and 25 lbs of carrots!

Farmers market fund! We can easily spend $150 per week on fresh fruits and vegetables for all the birds and animals.

Overwhelmed? I am, whew! I include all these figures so that folks have an understanding of what is involved in the day to day life at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. It's a constant influx of animals, food, bills, medicines, vet checks, operations, love and endless sleepless nights.

Please help us to keep up the momentum, continue to be able to rescue and care for Costa Rican wildlife, begin our breeding programs, continue our educational programs in the local schools and, I will end with a quote from a recent visitor, "I have been to other rescue centers around the world and this is one of the best. Their care for the animals is exquisite, the animals have space, enrichment and the place is sparkling clean."

Donations can be made to Pay Pal on our website, then please send us an e-mail to let us know who you would like to adopt, or what program your donation is helping.

Thank you from all of us, Leslie, Jorge and all the birds and animals of the Toucan Rescue Ranch and may you have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy and a great New Year.

Sloth-Squirrel-Farm Update!

Our good friend Karen made Christmas sloth blankets for all the sloths!! As you can see they love them...Thanks Karen!

Little Twili had a vet check up yesterday and she is doing great! Growing ever soooooo sloooowly...which is good for a sloth.

Farm Update!

We visited the farm last week with our good friend Jerry Jennings and a professional photographer friend of his Paul...I was nervous that the animals and birds might be hiding, but we were very lucky! I wanted them to see toucans and they appeared at the feeders in front of the house! Jerry is a world famous Toucan Breeder and conservation enthusiast, check out his website for all the toucan infomation you will ever need! http://www.emeraldforestgardens.com/

Then we had this very close encounter with a friendly three toed sloth.

Here at the main house we have been having several new hummingbirds arrive! Here is the beautiful Purple throated mountain gem!

The Whistling Ducks have discovered the mirror in our display case on the porch and every morning they are on the here greeting the ducks in the mirror :) and making a mess of the porch!

LuLu the squirrel has been out on her own for about a month, everyday she comes to visit and she has made a huge nest in the tree by the house...she seems to be doing fine and there are several squirrels around that she can get to know. Here is Jerry Jennings visiting with LuLu and Jorge as well.

Our coffee is drying and will be going to the local roaster soon!

The new guest house is almost done! The windows are in, tiles all done, they are working on the intricate bamboo ceiling and it is really beautiful, I keep joking that I am actually moving out to the guest house to get some rest!

Next blog will be soon with Christmas ideas! Please give the gift of life and hope to our rescued animals...photos, ornaments and ideas for adoption in the next segment! Donations are kindly accepted via Paypal on our blog.

Thank you from the animals!!

Released Sloth Mic!

My friend Christian Robles Puchi who works for the Costa Rican equivalent of Fish and Wildlife, Sinac-Minaet, runs the office out of Area de Conservacion Tortuguero. He has rescued all kinds of animals and many of the ones here today are from his efforts. Most recently he was called out to rescue this sloth that had suffered burns and a terrible fall from electrical cables. He came in last week, and we immediately called Janet the vet to come and pick him up for the day so that she could check him out. The burns were bad, but he still was able to use his hands, but from the fall he was very stiff and refused to move his body for about 3 days. I kept up fluids and tried on many occasions to get him to eat, but he would only take small offerings.
Antibiotics for the burns and routine cleanings and his hands were improving, but not his appetite, so we all taked about the situation, and I decided to take him to our farm to release him yesterday...by then his hands were much better, and he was very active at night wanting out of the kennel. People frequently ask me, "how do you know when to release an animal?" and I say...the animal lets you know!
Two nights of constant movement trying to get outside is a sure indication!

So, off to the farm we drove, over the mountain down to the rainforest and we selected an area where there was a huge variety of trees, since Mic, as we named him, did not seem thrilled with the usual Almond leaves. We set up the kennel so that he could grab a hold of a large vine, and I could do a quick video of him...well, he literally shot out of the kennel, and ran up the tree...check out the video that I will be posting on youtube. (I don't know why I cannot put the link, so go to http://www.youtube.com/ and look up Slothmom videos and you should find it!)

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Here he is at the very top of the tree eating these beautiful green leaves...it re-enforced my decision to release him, he was very hungry and I was so happy to see him eating. He is the 5th sloth that we have released at the farm, all two toeds. We are very happy and proud of our joint efforts to return these animals back to their native habitats!



That went so fast I had some time to go look for other animals and do some birdwatching! Keel billed toucans, Chesnut mandibled toucans and some three toed sloths were all around! Plus this beautiful pair of Crested Caracaras!



Overall a great day!! We will be looking for him with each visit back to the farm.