Toucan beaten by youths to receive prosthetic beak

A chestnut mandibled toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus swainsonii) from Costa Rica was brutally attacked by a group of youths, causing it to loose a substantial amount from its beak. The toucan despite being wild is known by the locals who put out food for it, causing him to become the town's mascot and adopting the towns name Grecia. Grecia's attack occurred in January when youths beat him with a plank of wood, the bird was taken to a local animal rescue center where, vets have been caring for him since and has been recovering and eating small bits of food with some assistance. 
When news spread of the vicious attack on the bird it caused outrage among people, causing them to turn to their pockets in a attempt to help fund the birds treatment; a social media campaign started by Luciano Lacayo with the hashtag #savethetoucan managed to raise more than $7000 to help the injured toucan, smashing its $5000 goal in less than 48 hours.

This led to four different companies within Costa Rica to offer to help the bird by designing and printing a new 3d beak for the bird which, will be the first of its kind to be used on a toucan but has been used and successful with other bird species such as eagles and penguins. The bill will have both a fixed and mobile part to allow it to be cleaned and replaced as needed however, time is needed to let his wounds heal before what is left of his beak can be scanned to plan for models.
Despite all this mass effort the poor toucan's future is still uncertain, he may not readily accept his new prosthetic beak and in the wild the beak aids in thermoregulation (temperature control) and attracting mates.
Unfortunately for Latin America this is not the first case of animal cruelty that has gained media attention, as little as a month ago a dog was brutally murdered by being blown apart by fireworks which, was filmed and placed online; this is due to the lack of laws or punishment for such abuse and perpetrators often face no penalty or if they do it is as little as a $2 fine; hopefully this will change as activists strive for tougher punishments for these acts of animal cruelty.  

This story shows both the worst in humans and the best and is a wonderful example of just how well we can group together to overcome a tragic incident by showing how truly compassionate we can be. My fingers are crossed that this little survivor will be able to eventually get his new beak and that all goes well and I am sure a lot of other people are too.
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