Escaped Toucan That Captivated Vegas Is Rescued

UPDATE Feb 26, 2026 3:30 AM CST

A toucan that has been seen flying around Las Vegas for months has been saved, a bird rescue group said Wednesday. "(The) little stinker decided it was time for help, and he flew into someone's garage," Skye Marsh, the president and co-founder of the SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue, tells the AP. The homeowners knew who the toucan was and shut the garage so he couldn't escape, and a local veterinarian gave him fluids and took bloodwork. There are some signs of "wear and tear," such as dehydrated skin and a chip off his beak, but he seems to be OK, Skye said. Sam had been eating better food since the rescue group put out healthier toucan food around a cage to try to rescue him. Skye said the better food improved his health, as his poop was looking healthier leading up to his rescue. Sam's owners, who had posted on social media about the bird's escape from its cage in November, have not been in contact with the rescue group.

Feb 20, 2026 5:01 AM CST

Katherine Eddington was driving in North Las Vegas last week when she thought she saw a big black bird carrying a banana fly across the intersection. But after a closer look, she realized it was a toucan—a tropical bird native to rainforests in Central and South America known for their large, colorful bills. "They're beautiful birds, so being able to see something like that so close to home was fascinating," said Eddington, who recognized the bird from social media and contacted animal rescue. That toucan is named Sam, and he has been living in the area since November, when a resident posted online that he'd escaped from his cage. After surviving the Las Vegas desert for months, Sam has captivated community birding groups, with people posting occasional sightings around town, the AP reports.

A local rescue group has been trying to catch him for months—and the clock is ticking. "I'm really worried about him," says Skye Marsh, president and co-founder of SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue. The Las Vegas-based group has spent hours searching for him, only to find the bird 50 feet up in a palm tree, limiting rescue options. They have not been in touch with the owner, she says. Las Vegas is not a good environment for a toucan to be in the wild with its too-hot summers and cold winters, says Donald Price, a professor and biologist at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas who studies how winged animal species adapt to different environments.

• Marsh, who has two toucans of her own, said Sam is starting to show signs of struggle. His eyes are sunken in, and the skin around his beak is starting to get discolored, she said. Sam likely lived off figs and pomegranates from trees in the Los Prados neighborhood, located about 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, when he first escaped in November, Marsh says. Those fruits have since disappeared, and Sam has moved on to citrus, which are harmful to toucans, she says. Their livers cannot process the calcium, and the iron can be deadly. "This bird is not in good shape," Marsh says.
• Bird experts and enthusiasts alike are surprised the toucan has survived so long in Las Vegas. Exotic birds that escape often have difficulty finding food and avoiding predators, and the changing weather in Las Vegas has also likely taken a toll on the toucan.
• The toucan has been spotted in one specific location, a sign he's running out of energy, Marsh says. The rescue group set up a cage with food in it and urged neighbors to stop feeding it. The toucan has scoped out the cage but gets spooked when people are around, Marsh says. She says neighbors shouldn't get close to the toucan or try to trap Sam themselves. "The more people that are out there, the worse it's going to be because he doesn't like people," she says. "So just let us do our thing, and we'll get him."