Outrage over deaths of three baboons

Confirmation that the authorities have killed three baboons - Creamy, Jody, and Junior - has been met with public anger.

Residents and conservationists raised the alarm after noticing that Creamy from the Da Gama troop, Junior from the Waterfall troop, and Jody from the Smitswinkel Bay troop appeared to be missing.

“The combination of the three baboons being missing was alarming. We were still hoping they would turn up somewhere,” said Jenni Trethowan, founder of NGO Baboon Matters.

And Lynda Silk, chairperson of Cape Peninsula Civil Conservation (CPCC), a non-profit organisation, said they had written to Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) about Creamy, who had been missing for two days.

“We asked if he had been killed, what was the reason, and which mitigation measures had been applied prior to euthanasia,” she said.

In response to questions from the Echo, the task team said in a statement that the three baboons had been euthanised over the past four weeks after assessing their case histories.

"The intervention is in line with the approved and adopted set of baboon management guidelines," the task team said, acknowledging that there would be those who opposed the decision.

It said it was confident that the decisions to euthanise, although difficult, were “robust, rational, and based on the best available information and scientific advice”.

Euthanasia was one of several options outlined in a strategic management plan for baboons, it said.

Ms Silk said the CPCC had worked extensively with the Da Gama troop and residents over the past six years.

“When Creamy and his small group, known as The Famous Four, later The Famous Five, moved through Fish Hoek and further north, we worked full-time, day and night, to limit activities that would lead these baboons to transgress the management protocol,” she said.

To manage the situation, the CPCC had established alert groups across the peninsula to notify residents of baboon presence and encourage them to secure their homes, she said.

“We did a lot of education for residents,” Ms Silk said.

The alert groups also helped to provide real-time updates on baboon locations to the NCC rangers contracted by the City.

“By being aware of baboon whereabouts, when the NCC was able to assist by providing a ranger, he would not need to waste time searching for the baboons but could move directly to guide them out of the area.”

Baboons had deep social connections and would grieve for lost members, she said.

"The most important thing they have is each other, and they do grieve."

Referring to Creamy, she added, "It is hoped that the remaining baboons can be integrated into the main Da Gama troop, but this will likely take time.

“This small group will feel very unsafe without Creamy to lead and protect them, and they will also feel unsafe re-entering a social structure in the main troop where there has been constant social rearrangement as more than half the troop has been killed or died in less than two years."

Baboon Matters has sent a letter of demand to authorities, including SANParks CapeNature and the City, seeking answers to questions about the killing and relocation of baboon troops.

“A court action is also scheduled for Monday November 4 to address the implementation of strategies identified by the authorities themselves, such as strategic fencing, baboon-proof bins and traffic calming and signage, which have not yet been implemented,” Ms Trethowan said.

"Killing individual 'problem' baboons does not and has never solved problems," said Ms Trethowan

Proper waste management and baboon-proof measures could significantly reduce baboon incursions, she said.

"No attractants equals no baboons. However, the CPBMJTT has provided no effective implementation of mitigation strategies. There are still no baboon-proof bins, no strategic baboon-proof fences, no implementation of regulations, and no education for residents.

“We are anxious, we don't know what they are planning, and there is no transparency,” she said.