Their journey is un-beak-lievable.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen malnourished toucans \u2014 some with broken tails and legs \u2014 have gotten their bright colors back nearly a year after being rescued from an inhumane Mexico-US trafficking ring.<\/p>\n
The 14 baby keel-billed toucans have spent the past eight months being nursed back to health at the Bronx Zoo <\/a>and are finally strong enough to fly on their own two wings, the staff announced Thursday.<\/p>\n The 14 toucans were rescued from an exotic pet trafficking ring. WCS Bronx Zoo<\/p>\n \u201cThese toucans arrived in a severely compromised state after enduring stressful and inhumane conditions during illegal transport,\u201d Chuck Cerbini, the curator of ornithology at the Wildlife Conservation Society\u2019s Bronx Zoo, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to the dedication of our animal care and veterinary teams, we were able to stabilize and rehabilitate them.\u201d<\/p>\n The feathered creatures were rushed to the zoo<\/a> in July after federal authorities discovered them cruelly stashed inside the dashboard of a car trying to cross the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in California.<\/p>\n The birds \u2014 which were all three to four months old at the time \u2014 had been sedated, wrapped in cloth and duct taped to the underside of the dashboard, the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of California said.<\/a><\/p>\n Keel-billed toucans are considered endangered, and have a retail value on the black market of $5,000. WCS Bronx Zoo<\/p>\n All of the toucans were described as being in \u201cextremely poor condition,\u201d suffering from malnutrition and some with broken tails and legs.<\/p>\n Carlos Abundez, 35, of California, was arrested for smuggling the exotic birds, which are listed as being \u201cnear threatened\u201d have a retail value of $5,000 each on the black market.<\/p>\n It took several months to rehabilitate the 10 males and four females in the flock as part of a coordinated effort between the Bronx Zoo\u2019s Ornithology and Zoological Health Departments, but now the birds are ready to fly the coop.<\/p>\n Visitors can see two of the toucans at the zoo\u2019s World of Birds exhibit. WCS Bronx Zoo<\/p>\n Most of them have already been re-homed to other zoos across the county \u2014 but four will stay in The Bronx for New Yorkers to visit.<\/p>\n Visitors can see two of the males \u2014 both of whom recovered from broken legs \u2014 at the \u201cWorld of Birds\u201d exhibit, while a male-female couple will be kept away from the crowds as a future breeding pair.<\/p>\n