‘To them a power line is a line of trees’: Costa Rica moves to protect howler monkeys from electrocution

Costa Rica's constitutional court ruled this week that power utilities must implement safety measures to protect wildlife from electrocution, marking the first legal requirement in the country to address one of the leading causes of animal deaths.

More than 100 animals arrived at International Animal Rescue Costa Rica last year with electrocution injuries sustained on power lines. Howler monkeys, sloths, and other arboreal species frequently mistake electrical conductors for tree branches and vines, resulting in fatal contact.

The court's decision stems from a lawsuit filed by environmental advocates who documented the scale of the problem. Power lines crisscross Costa Rica's forests and fragmented habitats, creating invisible hazards for wildlife that treat them as natural pathways through the canopy.

Peque, a young black howler monkey rescued after electrocution, now recovers at IARCR's facility in Nosara on the Pacific coast alongside seven other orphaned juveniles. Her case exemplifies the gap between Costa Rica's international conservation reputation and on-the-ground realities. The country hosts 6 percent of global biodiversity while covering less than 0.03 percent of Earth's land area.

Utility companies must now install insulation devices, modify line spacing, and design poles to reduce contact risk. Experts recommend covering exposed conductors and repositioning wires away from vegetation corridors that animals naturally traverse.

The ruling applies pressure to Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the state-owned utility that controls most of the national grid. Implementation timelines and enforcement mechanisms remain undecided, creating uncertainty about how quickly protection reaches forests where electrocution deaths concentrate.

Costa Rica's biodiversity framework includes protected areas and reforestation programs, yet this court decision addresses a vulnerability those policies overlooked. Arboreal mammals cannot distinguish power lines from the trees they evolved to navigate. Without infrastructure