Angel - Rescued baby howler monkey - howling!

The Tripod gals, Liz & Nat are on the move. As a result of the “Angel” experience, Tripod is now interested in a new aspect of animal rescue in Costa Rica’s southern Pacific zone: protecting wildlife from electrocution.

Liz & Nat made an appointment with the Coordinator of ASANA, a local ecological service, to discuss what can be done about this problem of animals being electrocuted by high power lines running through the jungle.   ASANA’s Ronald told Tripod that actually solving the problem could be a reality, but they would have to do some leg work.

Natalie runs the Tripod Foundation, a local non-profit organization dedicated to population control of domestic animals. Tripod raises funds that are used to cover the costs of spaying and neutering dogs and cats in The Zone ( Dominical- Ohochal). A large number of low income families have benefited from the affordable Spay/Neuter Clinics that wouldn’t have had their animals neutered due to financial limitations. This in turn has made the local Tico community aware of Tripod and are now calling for help with any animal concerns – hence the call regarding the now orphaned howler monkey.

I was against it.   I felt that Mama was baby’s lifeline and Mama was gone.  Let nature take its course.  Baby won’t make it through the night anyway.  It’ll just be a heartbreak situation.  Even if baby makes it through the night, what then?  How do you re-introduce a howler monkey into the wild?  Won’t the troop just kill the outsider anyway?

This line of thinking, of course, held no sway with Natalie. Off she went to get the baby, and we had an amazing week with this baby howler monkey whom we named “Angel”.  In the process we gained some insights and obtained resources for dealing with these kind of situations in the future.

I stand corrected in my thinking that a baby howler monkey cannot be re-introduced into the troop. The first full day that we had “Angel”, we were contacted by a friend, one of the owners of Cuna del Angel, who had actually rescued a baby howler, raised it, and then reintroduced the adolescent monkey back into the troop. We know this was successful since she (the rescued monkey) is with child and stops by for the occasional visit.

We  found a couple of biologists from Spain, who run a Rescue Center over on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, that has 57 hectares of  protected jungle for re- introducing jungle animals back to the wilds.  They now have our little Angel and will be tending to her rehabilitation and reintroduction.

The qualifications are that you be over 50 and are a woman.

It is amazing what a couple of determined expat ladies can do with a little bit of determination and a whole lot of care. And its amazing what they can do with just a little bit of money. The Tripod Foundation has been making its mark on Costa Rica’s southern Pacific zone. The mixed community of expats and Costa Ricans now know who to call when there is a street animal in need.

Even though the gals at Tripod are able to stretch a buck to incredible lengths, the bulk of their work is in fund raising. To this end, they have come up with the well established strategy of producing a calendar – with a twist.

Tripod Bare Naked Ladies is a tasteful compendium of 12, over 50 gals, posing with dogs, cats, surfboards and plants tastefully placed so as to keep us interested and wanting to buy a calendar.