COSTA RICA NATIIONAL NEWS – By Students of Academy del Sol and HomeSchool Beach Academy, Vozdeguanacaste – On Sunday July 20, Academy del Sol students and staff put on the 2nd annual “Stop the Shocks” running race to raise money and awareness for the monkeys.
Why? Because in this day and age, humans depend on electricity for everyday things; but unfortunately monkeys are being electrocuted from unsafe power lines and transformers.
Yet, there are many efforts being done to protect and help them. In 2009, hundreds of monkeys were electrocuted in Nosara, but thanks to the Nosara Wildlife Refuge and their partnership with ICE (the Costa Rica Electric Company), they have helped that number to decrease to 18 in 2010.
Nosara Wildlife and ICE have also helped insulate 30 km of power lines and they are working on insulating more (in which HomeSchool Beach Academy has been a part of too). To date, about 70 transformers have been fixed and the goal is to get 3 to 4 changed a year. The monkeys may be in a crisis, but that doesn’t mean no one is helping; thanks to the sanctuaries, hundreds of monkeys have been saved and released back into nature.
With 45% of the monkeys in Nosara being electrocuted, HSBAcademy and Academy del Sol have been directly involved to help them. In 2013, HSBAcademy helped the monkeys by writing to ICE to insulate cable in the town of Esperanza where monkeys were being electrocuted daily. As a result, ICE came out and changed out the cable.
They also made t-shirts (sold at Harbor Reef) and made a fundraiser that raised more than $600. This year Academy del Sol created a presentation about monkeys being electrocuted. Students from Academy del Sol went to different schools to present and make more people aware of this problem
This year, on July 20, our schools created a running race for the monkeys. There was a kid race, which was a little kid sprint on the beach. There was also a 5k and a 10k race. The 5k and 10k started in Guiones beach, where the runners ran all around the Guiones area finishing back at the main entrance of Guiones Beach.
In order for this fundraiser to be successful there were many people and businesses involved. For example, surf schools where handing out water to runners, businesses donated prizes to the winners such as Nativa, Tica Massage, Safari Surf School, baked goods were made and sold and many more. With so many people involved (including the teachers and students) the race was a great success, raising over $1,000. This money will be used to help heal and care for the monkeys that have been electrocuted and hurt.
Even though more people are starting to become aware of this problem, there are still many ways others can become involved. If you see a monkey being electrocuted take down the number on the pole and call ICE immediately. Tell them the pole number so they can change the transformer.
Contact Brenda Bombard at 8824-3323 and/or Vicky Coan at 8413-8889 as soon as possible so they can come and rescue the monkey. If you see a monkey on the ground please protect it so another animal does not get it and keep your dog on a leash. If you would like to be involved in eliminating this problem you can volunteer at the sanctuaries, donate old blankets, sheets, food (Isomil), money or you can be a part of the “adopt a monkey” program. Together we can Stop the Shocks.
Source: Voz de Guanacaste
