Look up at the canopy along Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean, and you might miss it: a thin, uninsulated wire stretched across a route wildlife uses every day. For sloths, monkeys, birds, and reptiles, a single crossing can be fatal. Electrocution is one of the leading human-caused threats to wildlife here, and as natural habitats grow more fragmented, the risk keeps climbing.
That’s the problem the Jaguar Rescue Center’s Shock Free Zone program was built to solve. And starting July 1, we have a powerful new ally in the fight: Ma Earth.
We’re thrilled to announce Reconnecting the Canopy: Safe Passage for Wildlife, our new campaign with Ma Earth, supporting the Jaguar Rescue Center’s Shock Free Zone program. We’ve been selected for Ma Earth Round 3, chosen from more than 800 conservation projects across 101 countries. From July 1 to July 21, 2026, every contribution will be matched by Ma Earth, up to $15,000, doubling its impact on the ground.
Who Is Ma Earth?
Ma Earth is a global collective funding platform that supports grassroots environmental projects around the world. Their mission is refreshingly simple: empower the communities already doing the hard work of restoring ecosystems and protecting biodiversity, then amplify that work through collective giving and matching funds.
Ma Earth’s philosophy: that small acts of care, multiplied across many people, create transformative change, is exactly how we think about conservation at the Jaguar Rescue Center.
What Is Shock Free Zone?
Since 2015, Shock Free Zone has been working alongside ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) and MINAE to prevent wildlife electrocutions across Costa Rica’s Southern Caribbean.
Our team identifies dangerous electrical infrastructure, tracks wildlife accidents, maps high-risk corridors, and partners directly with ICE, which installs every fix at no cost to insulate the power lines and transformers where animals are most vulnerable.
What We’ve Accomplished Together
A decade of work adds up. Since 2015, Shock Free Zone has:
- Insulated 41 electrical transformers
- Protected 6.8 km of secondary power line
- Insulated 2.6 km of primary power line
- Installed 17 aerial wildlife bridges, used daily by animals crossing safely above roads and dangerous lines
Every one of those numbers represents an animal that made it home, or a stretch of forest that’s a little safer to cross. But there’s still so much more to protect.
Double the Impact, Powered by Ma Earth
Here’s what makes this campaign different: Ma Earth doesn’t just match donations — it rewards participation. Through a model called quadratic funding, the size of the matching pool grows with the number of individual donors, not just the size of their gifts.
In practice, that means 100 people giving $5 each can unlock more matching funds than a single $500 gift. Every donor counts. Every share counts. And every dollar given between July 1 and July 21 is matched, up to $15,000.
A donation the size of a cup of coffee can help fund insulation materials for the routes wildlife depends on every day. Multiply that by hundreds of people, and the impact compounds fast.
Our Goals for 2026
With your support, here’s what we’re aiming to deliver this year:
- 22 additional transformers insulated
- 4 km of additional power line protected
- 5 new wildlife rope bridges installed
Every donation goes directly toward the materials needed to build these life-saving crossings. ICE donates all installation labor, ensuring that every dollar supports equipment, not overhead.
A Model the World Can Replicate
What excites us most about this partnership is that it doesn’t have to stop in Costa Rica. Shock Free Zone is a model, a working partnership between conservation organizations, electrical utilities, government agencies, and local communities, that can be replicated anywhere wildlife and power infrastructure intersect.
Wild animals are injured or killed by power lines every day, in nearly every country with an electrical grid. By proving that collaboration works here, we hope to help spark similar partnerships everywhere.
Every Meter Matters
Every insulated power line is a safer path for a monkey searching for food, a sloth moving between trees, or a bird navigating its territory. Every meter we protect is another chance for wildlife to survive and thrive.
From July 1 to July 21, 2026, you can be part of this. Any amount helps. Every donor, and every share, multiplies our impact.
You can check the campaign in the next link: https://maearth.com/projects/8870cc7c-7975-4bd2-8ce7-9a130cb91f44
🇺🇸 U.S. donors: your gift is tax-deductible through Friends of Costa Rica (501(c)(3)).
Because protecting one power line today can save countless lives tomorrow.