Cape Town may keep about 60 baboons in captivity — Daily Maverick
In Cape Town, South Africa, city authorities may capture around 60 chacma baboons from the Waterfall and Seaforth troops in Simon’s Town and place them in permanent enclosures at the city’s Urban Wildlife Centre in Kogelfontein near Scarborough. The city’s action plan provides for capturing the animals, assessing them and relocating them to specially equipped enclosures. Healthy males are planned to undergo vasectomies.
An opinion column in Daily Maverick notes that several conservation and animal welfare organisations opposed the permanent captivity of baboons. Green Group Simonstown NPC withdrew from the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group, stating that it could not support a decision that, in its view, would effectively turn the animal holding facility into a zoo.
Organisations’ positions
The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa network calls for measures for human-animal coexistence to first be introduced, assessed and transparently monitored before permanent captivity is considered. Among the alternatives, the organisation named secure waste-management systems, restricting baboons’ access to certain areas, non-lethal behavioural modification, community measures and habitat interventions.
Francesca de Gasparis, director of the South Africa Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, who is also a member of the advisory group, opposed removing the animals. According to her, this approach indicates an insufficient understanding of the role baboons play in the functioning of the fynbos ecosystem.
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The Cape of Good Hope SPCA also expressed concerns over animal welfare. In July, the organisation stated that it does not support keeping wild baboons captured in nature in a shelter as a long-term management method.
Waste and containers
Critics of the city’s plan link conflicts with baboons to the availability of food waste in residential areas. In early September, the distribution of the first 2,200 of the planned 6,000 baboon-proof containers from the middle of the month was announced.
Simon’s Town was not included in this phase because the city intends to capture the Waterfall and Seaforth troops and keep them in captivity. Organisations objecting to the removal of the animals believe that, without eliminating food sources, such conditions will continue to attract wildlife to urban areas. The discussion is taking place ahead of Cape Town’s municipal elections scheduled for 4 November.
