Working Together to Stop Monkey Electrocutions

Just four years young, The Monkey Farm is already making great strides in increasing the populations of monkeys in all of Costa Rica. According to an intensive 2007 study by biologist Ronald Sánchez and Dr. Gustavo Gutiérrez-Espeleta, of the University of Costa Rica, the country lost more than half its monkey population between 1995 and 2007. They estimated that spider monkey populations declined by 72 percent, squirrel and white-faced Capuchin monkeys 43 percent each, and howler monkeys declined by 65 percent. Who knows how much more the monkey population has declined in the many years since the study has been done?

The deadliest problem for monkeys and other arboreal wildlife in Costa Rica is uninsulated electrical lines and transformers. These electrocutions cause a slow and excruciatingly painful death. On October 13th, 2016, we met with Dr. Edgar Gutiérrez, the Minister of the Environment, and Dr.Gustavo Gutiérrez-Espeleta, of the University of Costa Rica and participant in the above mentioned study. After two years of communication and research, we are able to bring to Costa Rica a provider of insulating materials that will charge less than one-third of what is currently being charged for these materials in this country. This makes the protection of the monkeys from the electrical grid no longer cost-prohibitive.

Due to the newly acquired reduced cost of these materials, steps are being taken by the government to pass a law requiring all electric companies in Costa Rica be responsible for insulating their power grid to stop the electrocutions of our monkeys and other arboreal wildlife.