As humans have been encroaching into the Diani forests, so have their technologies.  One of the most necessary for human development yet lethal to monkeys has been electricity.

Most power lines are not insulated, yet they pass through the forest canopy.  The result: electrocuted colobus, bush baby and other monkeys.

Monkeys do not know that the power cables are dangerous and thus often use them to swing through to the next tree.  More tragic are the colobus monkeys which are rather close to each other.  When one gets electrocuted other members of the troop want to check what has happened to it and to help it.  In the process one or two others get hurt.  If they touch the cables of the main grid (transmitting 22,000 volts) usually they die instantly.  If they touch the feeder lines (240 volts), they lose a limb – hand, tail, leg.

To mitigate against this problem as we lobby for a more permanent solution, the Colobus Trust team goes out to trim trees along power lines.  We cut about 3 meters on each side of the power lines.  This forces the monkeys to come down to the ground rather than use the electric cables.

In the long term however, we hope to have all the cables insulated.

See [Electrocutions].