The Ch­aguara­mas De­vel­op­ment Au­thor­i­ty (CDA) pro­motes the wildlife of the Ch­aguara­mas area in its ad­ver­tis­ing. This is, sup­pos­ed­ly, an area where wildlife is pro­tect­ed. My friends and I walk reg­u­lar­ly in the area. See­ing the mon­keys and hear­ing the birds al­ways add some­thing spe­cial to our walks. Last Thurs­day, we saw a large howler near the golf course and a ca­puchin just be­fore the Bam­boo Cathe­dral. I won­der when we shall see them again.

As we en­tered the Bam­boo Cathe­dral we saw work­men build­ing a large stage and heard them say part of it is for danc­ing. The tents were set up and, with the stage, blocked the en­tire road­way through the area. We had to climb across the stage to con­tin­ue our walk. A truck drove up and un­loaded a gen­er­a­tor. Stage-light fit­tings were ly­ing on the stage and there were signs that a large sound sys­tem was to be set up.

We in­quired what was go­ing on, think­ing there was to be some the­atri­cal per­for­mance. We were told that there was to be a wed­ding there on the week­end. A wed­ding? How can the CDA give per­mis­sion to any­one to block off this beau­ti­ful area for such a noisy event? What about peo­ple who want walk up to the dish on Fri­day, Sat­ur­day and Sun­day? There is no al­ter­na­tive ap­proach.

Much more im­por­tant is the im­pact this will have on the wildlife that live peace­ful­ly in that area. The noise will dri­ve out the an­i­mals from a large area around the event. Is this how the CDA pro­motes the beau­ty of Ch­aguara­mas and its fas­ci­nat­ing wildlife? Are they al­low­ing mon­ey to talk so much loud­er than the howlers howl and the ca­puchins chat­ter?

What can we, who love the peace, beau­ty and nat­ur­al sounds of this area, do about it? We can on­ly protest, and en­cour­age oth­ers who use the area to do the same. The CDA must not al­low this to hap­pen again.

PA Green

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