Illegally smuggled toucan bird adjusts to new home in Kayseri zoo

KAYSERİ – Anadolu Agency

A toucan bird illegally smuggled into Turkey from Iran is adjusting to its new home at the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Zoo in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri, state-run Anadolu agency has reported. The bird’s homeland are the tropical forests of South America. 

The bird, which costs 25,000 Turkish liras on the market, and is one of the most expensive bird species in the world, was seized five days ago at a checkpoint in Erzincan’s Tercan district. 

The bird lives for approximately 20 years and its bill is longer than its body. Now it will await visitors in the zoo. 

The zoo’s veterinary Burhanettin Bacak said the bird with the red-colored bill was delivered to the zoo as a result of talks with the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs Provincial Directorate. 

He said they estimated that the bird was transferred to Turkey after a long journey over different continents and countries.

The toucan is the zoo’s 27th species of tropical bird, though cannot join the other birds immediately. “After a 10-day quarantine process the bird will be on display for visitors. We feed it with tropical fruits. It is a pretty healthy bird. The quarantine process is necessary in case it has a new disease,” Bacak said. 

“This bird’s shape is different from the others. Its bill is long. The ones here have short bills. Regarding tropical birds, we have parrots and lovebirds. The toucan’s most distinctive feature is its bill. We find out its gender by looking at its bill. Male toucans have long bills while the females have short bill. Our visitors will take great interest in this bird I believe,” Bacak added. 

Bacak also said the zoo would be in touch with other zoos to try and find a partner for the toucan.