Rescate Animal ZooAve

For my last excursion in Costa Rica, I visited an animal rescue center called ZooAve. Animals that have been abused, orphaned, or injured are brought to ZooAve for rehabilitation. Located on 34 acres, ZooAve is broken into two areas. One area houses the medical facilities and a more rural setting for rehabilitating animals and trying to get them well enough to be released back into the wild. The second area is for animals that are not able to be released back into the wild. This area is the observation area. 

One animal that captured my heart was Grecia the toucan. Some horrible people thought it would be a good idea to cut off her top beak so they could have a beautiful keepsake. Poor Grecia! She could no longer eat without help and would most certainly die. She was brought to Zooave where they were able to nurse her back to health. Beaks do not grow back, but they were able to create a prosthesis for her. 

The prosthesis allows Grecia to eat on her own and act like a normal toucan. The adhesive for the beak lasts 6-12 weeks before it is removed. Once removed, they let her go 3-5 days without it to let the keratin on her stump regenerate naturally. Grecia did not have her prosthetic on when I saw her.

I just don’t understand how anyone could be so cruel. I asked what happened to the men who did this to her. Nobody seemed to know but most assumed the men faced no consequences. 

The macaws were amazing! There were three different species at Zooave. They were grooming each other and seemed to be having fun. They are not in any enclosure and are free to come and go. Typically, they like staying right in Zooave as it is a great home for them.

Diego “spoke” to them and two of them answered back. Diego is great. Not only is our faithful driver, he has such great knowledge of history, plants, and animals.

And, to top that off, not only can he speak, Spanish and English fluently, he can speak macaw, monkey, and various other bird languages! :) He was getting the animals to listen and talk. 

I saw a massive crocodile, two smaller caiman, a big tapir, owls, monkeys, and two smaller wild pigs. Guapo, the jaguar, came to the zoo after being rescued from Hurricane Otto in 2016 as a small cub. Since he was raised by humans, he would not have a good chance of surviving in the wild. He is so handsome and stoic. I hope they find him a girlfriend someday. 

The grounds of Zooave were also wonderful. The meandering paths took us past all sorts of natural vegetation. I was amazed by the size of the bamboo. It was taller and larger than any bamboo I have ever seen. Can you use my height of 5’6” to estimate how tall they are?

There are also certain scents that smell of Costa Rica to me. One is a sweet scent from one of the plants. I can’t identify its sweet scent. Another scent is a bit musty from all the rain and heat. It is not like in a musty basement but fresher somehow. I like it! Along with all the beauty there were way too many mosquitos and tiny, irritating ants. The ants walked along the railings as it was an easier path than along the ground. It was their interstate! You can’t lean on the railing or you will have a trail of ants crawling on you. Wonder how I know that? 

There was another cool tree I learned about here called the screw-pine. It is nicknamed the moving tree.

Since it is in the rainforest, it struggles to get enough light. The tall trees take the sunlight and often provide too much shade for the undergrowth. This tree will send out new roots so the trunk will lean toward a spot of sunshine.

The tree can move as much as a foot a year. The roots are incredibly strong and support the tree well with the large amounts of rainfall and high winds the area gets. Incredible feats of nature!