Jairo Mora Sandoval, Sea Turtle activist in Costa Rica - portrait 6

Acyrlic on canvas, painting in progress by Liz Peterson

Jairo Mora was a biology student who worked for an animal rescue center and also volunteered with the NPO Widecast, which monitored and protected the leatherback sea turtle population. He regularly patrolled the Moin Beach at night to prevent the theft of sea turtle eggs by poachers, who sell the eggs on the black market. In part due to Mora's efforts, Widecast was able to collect and protect over 1500 leatherback turtle nests from Moin Beach, the highest volume of nests collected on any beach in Costa Rica. In order to collect these nests, he would directly confront the poachers, who were often armed, and attempt to negotiate. Police officers used to accompany the environmentalists on these walks, but their assistance dropped off dramatically in 2013, so that volunteers such as Mora were required to patrol alone. About one month before his death, Mora requested the support of the community to rally the police for help, asking them to "send messages to the police so they come to Moin Beach. Tell them not to be afraid but to come armed. We need help and fast." 

On the evening of May 30, 2013, Mora and a group of four volunteers were ambushed by a group of masked men as they were making their way to the beach. The other volunteers were able to escape, but Mora was killed by asphyxiation due to blunt force trauma to his head. Mora had received many recent death threats from poachers and most believe his killers were acting out of revenge for his attempts to thwart their poaching. 

Mora's death is one of the few cases in which an environmentalists' murder has received international attention - it prompted a reaction by the UN and many worldwide environmental organizations to ask the Costa Rican government to crack down on poachers in the country. 

A full-length feature story about Mora, "Blood in the Sand," was published in Outside Magazine in January.