A Month at KSTR
Hi guys! My name is Coralie, but everybody calls me Coco, I am 20 years old, and I am from Montreal, in Canada. I am about to finish my last year of study to become a veterinary technician in Quebec and I volunteered as an intern at KSTR for a month in the sanctuary.
Going to Costa Rica was my first-time solo traveling. I didn’t know what to expect from this internship since I didn’t have much experience with wild animals such as the ones we have at Kids, but I was really excited to be able to work for a month with these species and learn about wildlife rehabilitation. Going from Montreal to Quepos was quite a long ride! I had to take two planes, then the bus to get to the volunteer center, where I would spend the next 4 weeks. As soon as I got there, I immediately felt amazed by the nature teeming with life: toucans flying over my head, mountains touching the sky, monkeys leaping from trees to trees… and what about the warm welcome I received upon my arrival! We were a few girls sleeping in the dormitory and each of them made sure that we were comfortable in what was going to be our home for the month. We got to know each other a little bit better over the next few days and I really enjoyed learning about everybody’s countries and experience at kids.
It’s Dani, your KSTR spokeskid! I just got done spending several weeks in Manuel Antonio volunteering at KSTR, and I have a TON of exciting updates to share!
First, a huge thanks to everyone who came to Monkey Jam. We had 250+ attendees (the biggest party), lots of fantastic, home-cooked Costa Rican food, and great bands and music. It was nice to see the community connect, all the new improvements to the sanctuary, and have everyone meet the animals. I heard interesting discussions about recycling programs, new hotel owners learning about the services KSTR offers (from an injured sloth to a snake on the loose!)—and lots of amazing stories about the animals KSTR has saved 🙂 Someone shared such a great story about sponsoring a wildlife bridge on their street and how it made them feel happy every time they saw monkeys crossing. Even a kinkajou family is using it to safely make it across the road with their baby. 
Second, KSTR has formally changed hands to two incredible conservationists, who are excited to usher in a new era for the organization. I spent a lot of time with Gabe, one of the new owners, who has an amazing vision for increasing the reach and impact of KSTR. He wants to focus on building a new, state-of-the art animal hospital, more marine wildlife rescues, and MORE KIDS! We’re going to be adding additional spokeskids (who you’ll be hearing from here in the future), and raising money for more exciting projects to rescue more animals. Luckily, the old owners are still involved at KSTR and helping out with the transition—I love them so much so I am glad we can continue to work together to help the amazing animals in Costa Rica!
Next up is Bella, who I call “Grandma Bella”, because she’s pretty old! Bella is a Marmoset, and she’s been living in the sanctuary for a long time. Recently, we’ve made some new adjustments to her enclosure, so she can feel happy and safe. Now that she’s older, she can’t jump from branch to branch like she used to, so we added some bridges to connect the branches together! On “cold” days in Costa Rica (I know, crazy!) we give her a hot water bottle to lay on, so she can raise her body temperature without having to move around a lot. When I first started volunteering at KSTR, the second time I was there, I was going into her enclosure to give her diced food—she jumped on my shoulder! I tried to get her off, but she clearly wanted to hang out and rode long with me while I fed the parrots! Eventually, she got tired of the Dani Ride, so I took her back to her cage 🙂
Darwin is a spider monkey who was rescued from someone who was keeping him as a pet, and introduced him to people a lot. Darwin was aggressive towards people, and the pet owner asked KSTR to take him. Darwin continues to be aggressive towards people—but he has settled in very nicely at KSTR, and even has a roommate—or as I like to call her, a Girl friend (named Nina—who is also a spider monkey).
Next is a Capuchin Monkey named Arfonzito, who was electrocuted and had damage to his tail. After trying to save his tail, the vets at KSTR had to amputate his tail to save his life. He’s currently recovering at KSTR, and he is trying hard to learn how to live (and move) without his tail, so that he can go back to nature, where he belongs!
The rainforest has many big trees and lots of plants that take in tons of Carbon Dioxide and put out clean air. If the earth’s atmosphere contains too much Carbon Dioxide, it will raise the temperature of the earth by changing our greenhouse gasses, and will harm animals that rely on the temperature, like Polar Bears, Penguins, and other animals that live in cold environments.
Here is a picture of 2 of the Co-founders Janine and her mom, Jennifer, planting a tree. It was taken 17 years ago!
Today I want to tell you about a few of the injured animals at our sanctuary, and what we need to do to prepare them to go back to the wild. The two animals I want to tell you about are Patricia, an injured Heron, and Teo, an injured Titi Squirrel Monkey.
In my experience working with the animals in the winter, we do lots of fun and exciting activities with the animals. We decorate the outside of their cages (so the animals can experience Feliz Navidad, from a distance 🙂 ) And we give them presents!