Saving Wildlife In Costa Rica | Toucan Rescue Ranch

This video was kindly sponsored by the Nick Morn Foundation. With Toucans, Sloths, Tyras, Coatis and Macaws, Costa Rica's exotic wildlife is among some of the most incredible and biodiverse on earth. Today we're in San Jose checking out an organization that is rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing these exotic creatures back into their natural habitats. Welcome back to Going Green, today we're in Costa Rica, here at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. Founded in 2004, Toucan Rescue Ranch's mission is to give Costa Rican wildlife a fighting chance and also provide sanctuary to those who cannot survive in the wild on their own. Toucan Rescue Ranch works with the Ministry of Environment and Energy in Costa Rica to rescue wildlife put in situations caused by deforestation, human encroachment on habitats and the exotic pet trade. With highly trained medical staff, one of the best equipped wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Latin America and a passionate team of employees, interns and volunteers, Toucan Rescue Ranch is a safe educational hub for both humans and animals alike. To get a first-hand look at what makes this place so special, tour coordinator Andrea showed us around the property, walked us through their rescue and rehabilitation processes and introduced us to the wildlife that could not survive in the wild on their own for a number of reasons. We have two finger sloths, three finger sloths, we have a terra, river otter, spider monkeys, four different species of toucans, we have owls, we have around like six species of owls right now, we have macaws, we have parrots, we have parakeets and many more species. Sometimes we get to rescue raccoons, we have a baby tamandua as well, anteater, a lot of opossums, so a bunch of animals. When animals are first brought to Toucan Rescue Ranch, the clinic and highly skilled team of veterinarians are the first to see and assess these animals. From there, they are treated for any injuries they may have and once healed are either put on a track to be released into the wild or given a forever home within the sanctuary. We receive a lot of animals, there are very hectic weeks where we sometimes receive 20 up to even 30 animals a week. It gets quite, quite crazy and so you know you have to work with them, you have to treat them, you have to feed them, you have to raise them even sometimes and then there's the other role with some of our more permanent residency animals that sadly could not be released back into the wild. My job is to take care of them and to make sure that they are as healthy as they can possibly be and just in general making sure that not only are they healthy but happy and able to express themselves and their natural behaviors to the best of their abilities. In Costa Rica, whether you're a local or just visiting, immersing yourself in experiences like those offered at Toucan Rescue Ranch are so important for protecting the natural world. We sat down with the founder Leslie to see how you can get involved. With long and short-term internships and volunteering opportunities, there are plenty of ways you can get involved at Toucan Rescue Ranch. If they're looking to get involved here in Costa Rica then of course you know we have lots of opportunities but even in their hometown they can get involved with a rescue center there or some different species you know that that's interesting there that they're working with and rescue centers don't necessarily always need a hands-on person. They need people cleaning cages, they need people doing food, they need people doing social media for them, they need people like this lady that just showed up and said can I paint a mural for you and we got this beautiful you know mural so there's all kinds of things that you can get involved in you know at every level it's just up to you. The work that Toucan Rescue Ranch is doing is critical for protecting native wildlife in Costa Rica. We are incredibly thankful to the team for taking the time to show us around and giving us insight into what you do and we hope that after watching this video you now feel inspired to help and protect the local wildlife in your area of the world. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video make sure you hit the like and subscribe button to see more videos like this. We'll see you in the next one.