Protect wildlife from electrocution in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is among the top ecotourism destinations in the world. The country’s image as a protector of wildlife and its promotion of clean, renewable energy helps it pull in millions of tourists each year–most from the US and Canada.

Most visitors don’t know that the generation of electricity in Costa Rica may be clean and green, but the distribution of electric power is far from it. The vast majority of power lines and transformers installed in wildlife habitats across the country are uninsulated, and by the government’s own admission, thousands of animals are electrocuted on the power grid each year. 

Wildlife rescue centers across Costa Rica report that electrocutions have become the leading killer of howler monkeys, one of the country’s four primate species. Howlers are classified within Costa Rica as an endangered species.

Electrocutions are not “accidents.” They are predictable. When unshielded electrical hardware is placed in monkey habitats, the animals will access the dangerous equipment at some point and be maimed or killed.

The death rate for electrocution victims is extraordinary: In areas with high voltage lines, more than 90 percent of electrocuted adult howlers die from traumatic wounds during the event or in the days and weeks following it. Babies clinging to their mothers and not in direct contact with the lines will occasionally survive electrocution. As orphans, their lives are often short.  

In some areas, power lines and transformers have been insulated, but these represent a tiny fraction of areas where protection is needed. There are multiple laws that should protect wildlife from this fate, but there is little to no compliance with the laws.

Join our protest against these practices and tell the Costa Rican government to:

     1. Offer broad protection from electrocution to its threatened monkeys and other wildlife.
     2. Make its electricity distributors honor the country’s wildlife protection laws.
     3. Stop promoting the false image that protection of wildlife is one of the country’s highest priorities until these brutal electrocutions are ended. 

Please sign this petition to show your support for insulating the power grid to protect these irreplaceable wild animals from this horrific cruelty and eventual extinction.