spectrum
El Hijo del Santo fighting the good fight on land and sea: with
the sea turtles of Tamaulipas, Mexico (below); and aiding the
gray whales of San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja, California (right).
“I wanted to
have contact
with the
animals and
to feel the
responsiblity
of protecting
them.”
> cause celeb
Superhero of the Seas
Move over Captain Planet, the environment has a new superhero—a mystery
man in a silver mask known as El Hijo del Santo (Son of the Saint). Part of the popular
Mexican wrestling tradition lucha libre (freestyle wrestling), El Hijo del Santo is the
spokesperson for Wildcoast Costasalvaje, a nonprofit that protects coastal ecosystems and
24 | february-march 2008
wildlife in the Americas. He takes his duty as
environmental defender as seriously as the
fights that have littered his 25-year wrestling
career and that of his father (El Santo).
Enemies of the ocean, beware.
“My sister heard that Wildcoast was
looking for a kind of superhero to support their
campaigns, and she thought of El Hijo del Santo
straight away,” he says from the memorabiliapacked study of his Mexico City home. El Hijo
keeps his identity a closely guarded secret,
referring to himself only by his wrestling name
and refusing to take off his silver mask.
Lucha libre, Mexico’s second-biggest
spectator sport after soccer, is based on the
age-old saga of good guys versus bad guys.
Now, in a campaign launched in March 2007,
the bad-guy wrestlers are portrayed as masked
enemies of the sea with names like the Pirate,
Sewage Man, and the Turtle Eater. El Hijo also
pitches in with real conservation efforts: The
wrestler recalls the “amazing” experience
of visiting a whale sanctuary in San Ignacio
where he handled the gentle giants. He’s also
helped gather turtle eggs and carry recently
hatched turtles safely to the sea. “I wanted to
have contact with the animals and to feel the
responsibility of protecting them,” he says.
In September 2007, El Hijo received the
Hero of the Environment award from the
Monterey Bay Aquarium in California for
his conservation work. “When he came to
Monterey, more than 8,000 people turned out to
see him,” says Fay Crevoshay, communications
director at Wildcoast. “We couldn’t have
asked for a better spokesperson.”
Those of us living unmasked lives may
not have access to the same kinds of
environmental work that El Hijo does, but the
wrestler emphasizes that everyone can make a
difference. “We all go to the beach occasionally,
so it’s as simple as not leaving garbage behind,”
he says. “Or if you are walking on the beach
and you see an empty bottle, pick it up.”
If only defeating bad guys were that easy.
—Tara FitzGerald