Welcome to the Monkey Madness!

It all started  a couple years ago when my dear health coaching colleague Lucas witnessed the electrocution of a howler monkey in the beautiful town of Nosara, Costa Rica, when the monkey reached out to grab an uninsulated power line.

Witnessing this needless death spurred him to learn more about why these monkeys are not better protected by the town that is growing up through the jungle and putting up powerlines across the normal path of the monkeys as they move from tree to tree.

Luckily, there is an organization dedicated to protecting the howler monkey, (http://www.nosarawildlife.com/) and making sure that needless electrocutions do not cause further death of this amazing animal, which is very rare in certain parts of the country and across Central America.

Many times it's the mama monkeys that are eloctrocuted, leaving their babies completely helpless to fend for themselves.

Where do I come in to this picture?

Well, I've been to Nosara twice now, the second time for a week-long retreat that dedicated all of the proceeds towards supporting the care and rehabilitation of the baby howler monkeys that are left to die when their moms are electrocuted. Sadly though, the house that these monkeys were being rehabilitated and raised in, has been sold, so now Nosara Wildlife needs to find a new place to raise these monkeys before they can be re-introduced to the wild.

Perhaps you saw the pics of me on Facebook this past summer, cradling baby monkeys, or using a machete to cut off leaves to feed to the monkey?

We spent a magical day with the monkeys, and enjoyed meeting a couple people in Nosara who have literally dedicated their lives to protecting the howler monkeys of Nosara, Costa Rica.

I've teamed up with my other wonderful retreat participants to raise some money to support these little babies. In fact, the women who went on retreat are battling it out with the men to see who can raise money the fastest to help these monkeys and their tireless "mom", Brenda, get funding to keep providing housing and food for the babies.

A small donation of just $5 or $10 helps a lot and would be really appreciated as we each have a very modest goal of just $125.

Can you help me reach my goal? Please know that anything you donate is going directly towards supporting these amazing animals. I swear, when you look into the eyes of a baby monkey (as I was lucky enough to do many times this past summer in Nosara) you feel like you are looking into the eyes of a human baby. They are really not so much different than us!

Thank you!

- Ellen