'He will bite me for no reason sometimes': Despite his cuteness, Chester the toucan proves to be the world's worst pet

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Posted by Jesse Kessenheimer

For decades, children (and adults with a crush on Brendan Fraser), were enamored with the George of the Jungle franchise. The movies tell a tale of a Tarzan-like wild man with flowing blonde hair, buff arms, and piercing blue eyes who swings around on vines and lives his jungley life in the big city. Well, what most children become fixated on is the long list of jungle animals who George is able to befriend, most notably, his loyal messenger bird, a Toucan named Tookie Tookie who sits on his arm, can fly across the Atlantic ocean, and speaks broken English. This sparked a deep desire to befriend exotic birds of our own and have a toucan just like Tookie.

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One woman did just that. She rescued a real life toucan and brought him into her home, hoping to teach him to be a real messenger birb just like Tookie. However, what she quickly learned is that George of the Jungle hid all of the logistical nightmares of having an exotic, fragile, and complicated pet. Hollywood duped us once again.

As it turns out, Chester the toucan is much like all exotic birds and he poses a very real threat to his owner. Despite his cuteness, Chester is a biter. He bites his owner all the time and without warning, which, with his enormous and sharp bill, can be extremely painful. Not only that, but Chester is extremely messy, especially with his excretions. Like all birds, he expels his bowels whenever he feels like it, which can be a huge problem for a berry-eating, stain machine in an all white decor house.

Speaking of fruit, Chester eats a TON of it. He mows through a lot of expensive foods and is incredibly high maintenance.

God forbid Chester ever gets hurt or injured because his exotic vet bills are enormous. There aren't very many toucan specialists out there that are also veterinarians, so it's a complicated and pricey endeavor to maintain Chester's health.

This lil toucan is also a lurker. He's so needy that he needs to know where his master is at all times, but that means that she's never alone. She's always being watched by her birb and followed around into every room.

Although, she does say that she loves Chester anyways. Like any pet, he loves her just as much as he tortures her. So maybe he is a terrible pet, but he's a loving and delightful animal companion. She loves him despite his flaws… If he could just lay off the biting, that would be great.