Stop the Shocks Program Continues to Prevent Wildlife Electrocutions
Long-term Problem Area in Esperanza Finally Fixed
We are pleased to announce that the dangerous electrical cables in Esperanza that killed one monkey and injured two, has been made safe thanks to our Stop the Shocks program. This location (the road behind Il Basilico) has been an issue for over a year now and thanks to Erick and Danny from our local Nosara ICE team, 10 metres of the bottom 2 cables of the 3-phase cable system were replaced with insulated lines!
ICE also trimmed the mango tree branches so that the monkeys can no longer access the the cables from the tree. To provide a safe crossing for the monkeys, Refuge for Wildlife installed a rope bridge with the help of Heyner, an expert tree climber. Now the monkeys can safely access the mango tree without risk of electrocution.
Although the most recent accident in this location resulted in the loss of a monkey life, we were able to release Henry, an adult male howler who was electrocuted at this location a year ago. Sebastian, a juvenile howler that was severely injured at this location back in April 2018 is still being cared for at Refuge for Wildlife and will be old enough to be released in about 10 months.
Playa Pelada Emergency
Refuge for Wildlife’s Emergency Rescue Team received an emergency call on Sunday June 23rd for an electrocuted adult female monkey in Playa Pelada. It was reported that the monkey had grabbed an un-insulated hot clamp and the exposed primary cable. The monkey had fallen from the cables and was sadly dead on site. The accident caused a power outage which required ICE’s Nosara team to go to the location to turn the electricity back on.
Because the power was out, Refuge for Wildlife’s Stop the Shocks team took advantage of the situation and met with ICE to provide insulating wildlife protection equipment to make the transformer and cables safe. ICE workers are not normally supplied with insulating covers and do not install wildlife protection equipment without a formal request and purchase. Thanks to an emergency supply of wildlife protection equipment that Stop the Shocks keeps especially for situations like this, a new hot clamp cover and insulating tubing was provided. Stop the Shocks’ emergency supply was paid for by
Wanderlust Realty, who generously donated $350. If you would like to help to replenish our emergency supply of wildlife protection equipment, you can make a donation line. The next time there is an emergency, we will be able to help immediately.
Shockingly, upon arrival, our Stop the Shocks team member discovered that 3 monkeys had died on this transformer recently, but no one had notified Refuge for Wildlife. Please, if you have witnessed the injury or death of a wild animal report it to the Refuge for Wildlife at 8824-3323. We can not help prevent electrocutions if we do not know they are happening.
Scheduled Power Outage
On June 25th ICE had a scheduled power outage in the Pelada area along the El Chivo and Condos Las Floras roads. Stop the Shocks often takes advantage of the scheduled power outages to insulate transformers. The power was out for only a short time but because an extra ICE team was borrowed from Samara, Eddie, Rolando and Jovel were able to help us to insulate two transformers in front of Hotel El Ramal where monkeys have been electrocuted. The monkeys travel the cables along this road consistently so this was an important hotspot to protect. Please contact us if you’d like assistance with insulating your transformers.
