The Stop the Shocks team at our Refuge for Wildlife in Costa Rica recently teamed up with ICE, the local electric company, to help the monkeys of Nosara. Together they were able to insulate 14 transformers during a planned power outage.
Thanks to the amazing support from ICE, whose team donated their entire day to help, several critical areas were made safe for the monkeys. The team not only installed the wildlife protection equipment, they also trimmed trees to prevent damage to the insulation on the power cables and keep the monkeys off the wires and transformers.
They also hung up a rope bridge in an area where monkeys were climbing on dangerous cables, using rope donated to our Wildlife Crossings Programme. ICE also donated several sets of equipment that we didn’t have sufficient funds to purchase. Thanks to ICE, many more transformers were made safe. This could not have been achieved without their help.
The Gilded Iguana Hotel also pledged to donate nearly $500 USD. The sum will cover the cost of fully insulating one transformer and completing the insulation of three more near the hotel that were missing protection equipment.
An appeal has been made to anyone whose transformer was insulated that day - and who hasn’t yet made a donation - to please follow the example of Gilded Iguana and help cover the cost of what was accomplished so that more monkey lives can be saved.
Stop the Shocks recently purchased over $6000 USD worth of wildlife protection equipment from donations received by the public and the current focus is on locations where electrocution injuries and deaths are high risk.
The 14 transformers insulated recently are just the beginning. With ICE’s help, 21 more transformers will soon be insulated using $2500 worth of equipment all purchased by one donor who wishes to remain anonymous.
The average household transformer can cost between $250 to $500 (and up to $1500 for more complex transformers) to insulate with wildlife protection equipment. The equipment is costly because the product needs to withstand high voltages and is designed specifically for special parts of the transformer.
Grateful thanks go to those ICE employees who braved the heat and the rain to improve wildlife safety: Erick Mora, Dany Mora, Didier Juárez, Gilbert Juárez, Ercilio Matarrita, Alfonso Hernández, Jovel Jirón, Wilson Carrillo, Alejandro Campos, Cristian Sibaja, Félix Sequeira, Ricardo Briones, Olman Mayorga and Alberto López.