After our success with the Saving Sloths Together program, a collaborative effort to rescue, rehabilitate, and release wild sloths in Costa Rica, Toucan Rescue Ranch is proud to announce the official launch of its latest program: Saving Howler Monkeys Together.

Saving Howler Monkeys Together is a nationwide project that provides successful rewilding for orphaned, rescued, and rehabilitated howler monkeys in Costa Rica. To accomplish this, the program gives medical care, enrichment, and nurturing of skills howler monkeys need to ensure a successful release back into the wild.

Says Tesa Mendoza Blowey, Release Site Supervisor and head of the Saving Howler Monkeys Together program:

“Since opening our doors to rescuing howler monkeys in January 2023, we have received a whopping 32 howler monkeys at the release site that have come in various sizes and with differing injuries. I have had a clinic full of 10 monkeys at once, with my staff and I working 12-hour days and overnight shifts to care for these animals on top of the other intakes we normally receive. Blood, sweat, tears, laughter, and so much love have been put into the development of this program, and it would be a dream to be able to continue working for and providing care to these animals.”

Tesa Mendoza Blowey, Release Site Supervisor and head of the Saving Howler Monkeys Together program.

Saving Howler Monkeys Together receives injured monkeys and orphans too young to survive in the wild. Although we had been caring for rescued monkeys for years, the program was started to improve our release capabilities, especially for rescued baby monkeys. The program is a collaborative effort, looking at rehabilitation strategies and techniques that have worked for different facilities around the country to ensure the best outcome for the current group of young howler monkeys in the program.

There have been nine howler monkeys in the program thus far, arriving as tiny “preschoolers” and working their way through the program stages. Currently, these individuals are juveniles or older, nearly ready for “Monkey University.”  The decision to accept more monkeys will depend on the howler monkey’s condition and space to join the current group. 

The current group will be released as one or two troops by the end of 2023. The Release Site team will observe the first troop rewilded for at least two months before the second troop is released. This process has already begun with the soft release of the two oldest individuals in the group, Malik and Kaleo. 

“Leslie and the Vet Team have entrusted me with so much, and as a young conservation biologist, it has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to have cared for the howlers over the last year,” says Blowey of the program’s success so far.

Help us Raise $23,500 for food, enrichment, staffing, and enclosures

“Dry season is coming around again and if we want to continue providing the top care for these animals here at TRR, we will need more than just my relentless passion.”

Saving Howler Monkeys Together is still in its infancy stages, but the monkeys in the current program are not. In order to ensure the success of Phase 1 of the program, help us fundraise our goal of $23,500. The money raised from this campaign will go towards food, enrichment, staffing, and enclosures for our howler monkeys.

Start A Fundraiser!

We are counting on our dedicated supporters to share this campaign with friends, family, or anyone interested in helping us save howler monkeys!

Get your own simple, modern, and mobile-friendly donation page you can use to participate in Saving Howler Monkeys Together. Customize to your heart’s content, then publish and share your fundraiser with friends, family, and social networks.

“Even if you set a goal of just $100, it’s one step closer to being able to turn this baby project of mine into a full-blown program, like the one we have that runs so beautifully for the sloths. Watch the short film and you will surely be inspired to take a small part in helping us give these babies the second chance they deserve.” 

Tesa Mendoza Blowey, Release Site Supervisor and head of the Saving Howler Monkeys Together program.

What’s peer to peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a specific type of crowdfunding that empowers an organization’s supporters to fundraise on their behalf, soliciting donations from their social networks.