Howler Monkey Power Line Deterrent Project

This project rescues injured, orphaned, and displaced wild animals and provides them immediate medical care, rehabilitation, and eventual release into the wild.

Howler monkeys are a specialty and one of the serious problems they face in Costa Rica is electrocution via unshielded power lines and transformers.

The injuries resulting from the monkeys grasping the uninsulated electrical lines or transformer leads are gruesome, painful, and often fatal. If an animal does survive, it will be severely burned and likely to lose a hand. Many females have babies in tow when injured. If the infant doesn't die from electrocution, or the fall from the high lines, then they have to try to survive, injured, orphaned, and abandoned in the jungle.

In order to improve survival odds and prevent these injuries the project is currently exploring ways of discouraging Howler Monkeys from coming into contact with live and deadly power lines until they can be changed to insulated ones.

What is needed right now is someone to oversee a small 'proof of concept' project. In a nutshell, the organisations involved (Refugio Animales de Nosara and SIBU Sanctuary) want to create silhouettes of life sized turkey vultures out of recycled rubber which they would hang on the guide wires of electric poles as they are a natural enemy of Howler Monkeys.

The impact could be huge with communities all over the country participating in the manufacture and placement of these silhouettes in areas where the Howlers are being electrocuted.

Albeit, it's only a temporary fix but the organisations involved see this as the best course of action outside changing the uninsulated power lines and transformers to insulated ones.

If you have any questions or want to apply please visit the Volunteer Latin America Facebook page for the contact details.