Adopt A Howler Troop

Help Orphaned Howlers Return to the Wild

High in the forests of Costa Rica, howler monkeys travel through the trees along the same routes they have used for generations. But as more of their home is crossed by power lines and roads, those journeys have become dangerous. Every year, howlers are electrocuted on uninsulated cables. Many are mothers carrying babies, and when they are killed, their infants are left alone, frightened and often badly hurt.

When a monkey is in trouble, our emergency response team in Costa Rica is ready. Using specialist equipment, they rescue injured monkeys from transformers and electrical wires and rush them to our clinic. The babies are often badly burnt and deeply distressed by the loss of their mothers. Our vets give them round-the-clock care in our intensive care incubators, cleaning their wounds, feeding them with pipets, and treating their burns and pain. Some injuries are so serious that part of a limb or tail must be removed, but these little monkeys cope remarkably well, and with expert care most recover with little or no scarring.

Once they’ve left intensive care, the orphaned babies move to our indoor nursery, where they are carefully introduced to other young howlers to begin to socialise them into a troop. At around 10 to 12 months old they move outside, and slowly they begin to form strong bonds so that they become a troop, ready to live in a group as they would in the wild.

When they are between 16 months and two years old, each new troop moves to a release site to begin their return to the wild. This final stage can take up to two more years, as the troop learns to find food, stay safe and live as wild howlers.

Our goal is always the same: to see every monkey back in the trees where they belong.