Dear Friends,
Costa Rica is a place of great beauty. Its beauty and abundant wildlife have made it a popular tourist destination. The recent tourist boom has helped to fuel rampant development. Accompanying this growth are a great many side effects, some seen and some not. Some of these invisible impacts have devastating consequences. It is one of these unnoticed horrors that has prompted us to call out to all those with compassion for animals and beg you to act .This devastating consequence is the horrific electrocution of the native Howler Monkey.
These appalling electrocutions are not only the direct result of the recent and unregulated development but also the lack of environmental and social awareness 
in the past. In many areas electrocution is occurring on a regular basis where the existing electric lines and transformers are left unshielded. These lines are draped through the thick canopy of trees to houses, condos, resorts and businesses mimicking the vines that the monkeys use to travel between feeding grounds. Unfortunately, the building continues with the multitude of new power lines and transformers installed being predominately unshielded.
The injuries resulting from the monkeys grasping the uninsulated electrical lines or transformer leads are gruesome, painful, and often fatal. If an animal does survive, it will be severely burned and will likely loose a hand, foot, or tail used to grasp the lines. Others will wallow in pain and anguish for days before succumbing to their massive internal injuries. Many females have babies on their back when electrocuted. If the infant doesn’t die from electrocution or the fall from the high lines, then they have to try to survive injured, orphaned, and abandoned in the jungle. The odds of survival for these helpless infants are very poor. The low number of naturally surviving infants, compounded with the reckless negligence of deforestation and fragmentation of their habitat is having a devastating impact on the Howler Monkey population. This impact has resulted in an estimated population drop from 107,000 in 1998 to only 37,000 Howler Monkeys in 2004. Current numbers are likely even lower.
There are those working to improve these survival odds and even prevent the injuries. However, without veterinarian facilities, necessary supplies and medicines, their efforts are often frustrated. They have subsisted financially and physically on their own for the last 10 years, overwhelmed dealing with the day to day operations and care of their patients to have time to search for external sources of funding. Together, they share a common mission: to rescue injured, orphaned, and displaced wild animals and provide them immediate medical care, rehabilitation, and eventual release into the wild. Animals unlikely to survive in the wild receive attentive long-term care. They are educators and advocates who work cooperatively with other organizations to encourage respect for animals’ lives and preservation of their habitat. Their work is complementary, but different. Due to the broad spectrum of these programs and the enormous undertaking of this task, they have created Refugio Animales de Nosara and SIBU Sanctuary. The Refugio provides for the immediate rescue and medical attention while the Sanctuary provides a step-down release program for re integration into the wild, as well as a natural life long care habitat for those who are not able to be released.
However, the situation is now dire. With numbers of Howler’s rapidly declining, and tourism and development seeing a rapid increase every year, serious financing is desperately needed to meet the increasing demand for the care of injured and displaced animals. Your participation in this struggle will substantially improve the success of the efforts of both non-profit organizations, the Refugio Animales de Nosara and SIBU Sanctuary.
Donations will be used to meet both immediate, and on going objectives:
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PREVENTION: a) continue the educational programs throughout the region to bring awareness to these atrocities. b) Implement measures to shield electric lines and transformers, to prevent injuries c) working with the Costa Rican government to implement legislation requiring insulated power lines and transformers.
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Continue to rescue, provide immediate medical care and day to day maintenance of rescued animals
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Construct and staff a veterinary clinic to attend to those injured
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Complete the transitional habitat, needed now by those animals ready to return to the wild
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complete the permanent, enriching habitat for those needing lifelong care
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Continue conservation programs to breed threatened species
Your contribution will help make this vision a reality. Together, our current annual operation budget is approximately $125,000.
Please help us to ensure a future for these unique and breath-taking animals. All donations will make a substantial difference in slowing, and hopefully preventing the torture and horrific deaths of these special creatures. Please donate to the Sibu Sanctuary today. Here’s how:
For tax deductible donations under U.S. tax code 501 (c) (3), please make your check payable to: “Friends of Nosara” with a notation in the memo section for “SIBU Sanctuary”.
You may also donate via PayPal through the email address: maolsen@lunadepapel.com
Again, please indicate Sibu Sanctuary.
For non-tax deductible donations, please make your check payable to:
SIBU Sanctuary
c/o Vicki Coan
APDO 39-5233
Bocas de Nosara Bocas de Nosara
Nicoya, Guanacaste
Costa Rica Costa Rica
Via PayPal: jungalow@gmail.com
with notation: “SIBU Sanctuary”
Contact: 011 (506) 8866.46.52
or 011(506) 2682.14.74
email: jungalow@gmail.com
Please visit our new website: www.nosarawildlife.com