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A toucan that escaped its owner in November and has continued to survive around the Las Vegas area is at the center of a rescue effort, with officials saying time is running out. The bird, named Sam, has drawn community attention through occasional sightings, but a rescue group says capturing him has become harder as the months pass and as his situation appears to worsen.
Katherine Eddington said she first noticed the bird while driving in North Las Vegas, when she thought she saw a large black bird carrying a banana fly across an intersection. After a closer look, she realized it was a toucan, a tropical bird native to rainforests in Central and South America known for its large, colorful bill. Eddington said she recognized the toucan from social media and contacted animal rescue.
Marsh, president and co-founder of SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue, said the group has spent hours searching for Sam since the bird’s disappearance and has not been in touch with the owner. She said the bird was spotted about 50 feet (about 15 meters) up in a palm tree, which she said limited rescue options. Marsh also said the toucan appears to have been surviving on the move across the Las Vegas desert for months.
Donald Price, a professor and biologist at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas who studies how winged species adapt to different environments, said Las Vegas is not a good place for a toucan to be in the wild. He noted that birds can thermal regulate, but only for so long, and that the toucan would likely need more energy and food to sustain itself. “If it’s still alive, it could be in trouble, I can imagine. So hopefully they catch it,” Price said.
Marsh said Sam likely lived off figs and pomegranates from trees in the Los Prados neighborhood, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Las Vegas Strip, when he first escaped. She said those fruits have since disappeared and that the bird has moved on to citrus, which she said can be harmful to toucans because their livers cannot process calcium and the iron in such foods can be deadly. Marsh said the bird is starting to show signs of struggle, including sunken eyes and discoloration around his beak.
Bird experts and enthusiasts have also expressed surprise that Sam has survived as long as he has, given that exotic birds that escape often struggle to find food and avoid predators. Price said the desert environment likely adds pressure, including the difficulty of finding enough energy over time in weather extremes.
Marsh said the rescue group has identified Sam in a specific location, and she described that pattern as a sign the bird may be running out of energy. She said the group set up a cage with food and urged neighbors to stop feeding the toucan. Marsh said Sam appeared to scope out the cage but gets spooked when people are around.
Once the toucan is caught, Marsh said the group will rush him to a veterinarian. She said he will likely need fluids and that his system will need to be flushed to remove the iron she said he has eaten. Marsh urged neighbors not to approach Sam closely or attempt to trap him themselves, saying the presence of more people makes it worse because the bird “doesn’t like people,” and that the rescue team will handle the capture.