Toucan Nation

Presented in association with H/3 Foundation and Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society International), Toucan Nation tells the extraordinary true story of Grecia, a beloved toucan in the town of Grecia, Costa Rica, who became the symbol of a national animal welfare movement after losing half of its beak in a brutal attack by a group of vandals in early 2015.  The image of the helpless bird, alive, alert and missing the front of its face, raced around the world and ignited international outrage.

What followed was an extraordinary chapter of compassion, ingenuity and collective action.  Animal rescuers and veterinarians at Costa Rica's Zooave Animal Refuge Center enlisted a team of volunteer experts, including Charles W. Hull of 3D Systems, the father of 3D printing, to design and construct a custom prosthetic beak that would allow Grecia to eat, drink and live with dignity.  Meanwhile, a coalition of Costa Rican schoolchildren and animal rights activists rallied behind a national petition demanding that President Luis Guillermo Solís bring a long-stalled animal welfare bill before Congress.

Produced for Animal Planet by Heredia Pictures, Toucan Nation chronicles every chapter of that effort: Grecia's rescue and rehabilitation, the engineering and dental teams who built the beak, and the children carrying handmade signs through the streets of San José.  It is, at heart, a story about what happens when motivated people decide that one small life is worth saving, and how a single act of cruelty can become the catalyst for a movement.