In this Daily -- Toño Pizote's Visit to Potrero
Yesterday Toño Pizote, the official mascot of forest fire prevention in Costa Rica, made a visit to Potrero to teach kids how to help him protect important the important conservation areas around town. Accompanied by his friends from Bomberos Forestales de SINAC (the forest fire prevention arm of the Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservación), Toño helped teach the Potrero kids how the Guanacaste conditions -- wind, dry weather, and high heat -- require us to be extra careful to help prevent forest fires.
Toño was selected as the country's fire prevention mascot because pizotes (also known as coatis), are Costa Rica's natural fire warning system, letting out a system of high pitched cries to inform animals all around to leave the area. And as part of his job, Toño serves as the national protector of all of the wildlife pizotes help protect, including jaguars, quetzals, wild boar, and tapirs.
You can read more about Toño and his efforts to help protect Guanacaste on his official Facebook page, which you can find by clicking this link. He even has an official song, made by the Bomberos Forestales official band, which you can find by clicking here.