Travel: Toucan Rescue Ranch

We had an incredible time hiking through the rain forest, bathing in natural hot springs, laying out on the beach, surfing in Manuel Antonio and eating casado or typical dish at every meal. However, the highlight of our vacation came on the last day when we stayed at the Toucan Rescue Ranch. The Toucan Rescue Ranch is a privately owned wildlife rescue facility that initially focused on the care and rehabilitation of the Costa Rican Toucans, but expanded to include other species of birds including macaws, pygmy owls,
whistling ducks to name a few and other animals including a prehensile-tailed (rainforest) porcupine,
a spider monkey, three slothsand seven dogs.The couple that runs the Toucan Rescue Ranch, Leslie and Jorge, just opened the bed and breakfast part this past year and they were such incredible hosts. They made us feel like we were old friends. They really made us feel at home and Leslie told very engaging stories about the animals which would make an amazing blog. They work with different organizations and accepts almost any animal that is brought in including this rescued spider monkey, Isadora, that was chained up to a pole. Leslie emailed us to inform us that Isadora got out of her cage and just walked right into their house.Since the rescue is privately run, they rely on donations and revenue from their tours, the B&B and their small gift shop. We visited three different rainforest to catch a quick glimpse of sloths, monkeys and birds at the distance,all of which we got to hang out with at the ranch. In addition, they have two farms near a rainforest where they release rehabilitated animals that are capable to be back in the wild. What was shocking to us was to see their dedication to the health of all of the animals. Almost all of the animals are on different feeding schedules, so they spend pretty much all day and night preparing meals, feeding the animals, cleaning out their living spaces, and then preparing the animals for bed. They even built a separate sink as a food preparation station for the animals with a specific sponge for each animal. And we thought it was hard for us to feed two dogs on the same feeding schedule.

In addition, their latest sloth, Georgie must be hand fed every three hours, which is almost like having a newborn human.

We regret that we only had one night, because we didn't get to see their farms which backs into the rainforest where they release rehabilitated animals and drink their homegrown coffee. The amazing thing is that most of the funds for all of their great work comes out of their pocket, so we are developing ways to incorporate their work into our curriculum and come up with fundraising ideas at our schools.