Human-Wildlife Conflict

[Lisbeth]

Mpumalanga is part of South Africa as far as I know. Twice it has been quoted as a standing-alone country There are also a few contradictions and repetitions. Often I wonder who is writing the press relations, but this one is written by a reporter

[Lisbeth]

Baboon task team attempts to ‘quietly’ remove Simon’s Town troop



Seaforth Alpha male Martello with a female and the youngest of the troop, Kabili move quickly across the busy Queens Road. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

By Liam Voorma | 14 Dec 2023

A task team has planned the reported removal and relocation of the Seaforth baboon troop. However, the SPCA, various baboon management and community groups were caught by surprise. They said necessary steps to plan a removal have been overlooked and community groups were kept in the dark.
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On 14 December 2023, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA was taken aback by an email from the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) requesting assistance and observation in the capture and relocation of the Seaforth troop to what they said was a natural area on the Cape Peninsula.

Yet, the SPCA – the primary custodian for animal welfare in South Africa – said it has been excluded from the decision-making process within the CPBMJTT, which is a body formed under the directive of the Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) .

“We were not involved nor were we consulted,” said Jaco Pieterse, Chief Inspector of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA.

This has led the SPCA to reject the request to assist and observe the capture and relocation of the Seaforth troop, which consists of 14 baboons.


Seaforth troop’s alpha male Martello with his offspring Kabili, the troop’s youngest member. Alpha males are imperative to the troop’s social structure and family cohesion. (Photo: John Leslie)

Removal and relocation date
The initial removal was meant to commence on the morning of 14 December. However, the removal was postponed as the baboon troop dispersed higher up the mountain area when the trap cages arrived.

“The relocation was set for this morning. We did dispatch inspectors to see what was going on, but were told that the relocation had been cancelled for today as the baboons went into the mountain,” said Pieterse.

It is speculated that another attempt would be made the afternoon of 14 December, or the coming weekend, said Pieterse.

A lingering concern is where the troop will be relocated to, and what methods would be used by the task team.

The Seaforth troop shot to prominence in September when a local resident opened fire on the troop, killing a juvenile.

Shortly after this incident local resident Ashleigh Olsen, with the assistance of a group of committed residents, raised money to place monitors with the troop to keep them safe.

On Thursday night Olsen accused the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT ) of a cover up demanding to know what the plan was with the troop.

“Where are you taking the Seaforth Troop? Two weeks before Christmas and this is what the “Mother City” is doing?”
She said the the CPBMJTT (Joint Task Team of the City of Cape Town, SANParks, Cape Nature) has failed to clean up waste in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, baboon-proof waste, put up signage and awareness for the public, provide baboon monitors or provide law enforcement to enforce by laws and park regulations
“They have left a group of concerned citizens to set up a community based monitor programme and given no support, ignored extensive appeals for implementation of waste management, awareness, law enforcement and excluded the Cape of Good Hope SPCA in their task force,” said Olsen.
“And, today, two weeks before Christmas they sent in a team from NCC to capture the Seaforth Troop for ‘relocation’ and not informed the public or the monitor programme who has been watching over this troop.
“We want to see the relocation permits for this troop, we demand transparency and public participation in this process. They left us high and dry and now come in and try and capture this troop without any assurance of a safe relocation or the proposed destination and excluded the SPCA in the decision making process. UNESCO are you watching? We are, ” said Olsen.
Baboon Matters’ Jenni Trethowan explained what would be best practice should there be a need to relocate a troop: “Normally what would happen in a relocation of a baboon troop is they would erect a temporary electrified boma of sorts and you would put the troop into this safe contained space until they get used to being in a new place.”

However, none of this has been discussed, or mentioned to the necessary organisations or community groups involved, said Trethowan.

When contacted by Daily Maverick, the CPBMJTT stated that “the relocation of the troop is in the best interest of the safety and welfare of the baboon troop, who have been spending most if not all their time in the urban area of Simon’s Town”.

However, no answers were given about where the troop would be removed to, the capturing methods, or how the transportation process would work. The task team was also unable to provide a timeframe for the relocation or details on who the actual people are who constitute this task team.


A social media poster created to draw attention to the plight of the Seaforth troop.

Beachwards…
The CPBMJTT claimed that the troop had been at Boulders Beach which they said raised concern about the interaction between tourists and baboons as well as penguin eggs of the African penguin colony.

“The baboons disturb and displace the penguins and are known to feed on the penguin eggs,” the CPBMJTT claimed, although those who monitor the troop said the baboon had not engaged with any of the penguins or touched any of the eggs. Olsen pointed out that there had been no evidence of any baboons coming near any penguins or their eggs, but rather that many penguins were killed by a swarm of bees and in another incident by dogs.

“In fact our evidence through the monitoring programme shows very clearly that this troop spends most of their time in the mountain, outside of the urban areas.” said Olsen.

The CPBMJTT said it would engage with the SPCA in an appropriate forum, but as of yet, no information on the new location of capture methods of the troop has been discussed.

“The Cape of Good Hope SPCA finds it unreasonable that we are expected to mobilise the day before a major capture and relocation of an entire troop when we have been systematically excluded from decision-making processes by the CPBMJTT. Such a major relocation is not planned overnight and requires a broader stakeholder consultation and input,” said Pieterse. DM

[Richprins]

Some good news for a change!






Kruger Sightings
@LatestKruger
8:30am
3 Snake stationary
"Rescuers released 1 Black-mamba, 1 Python and a Brown house-snake rescued from the nearby community. Thanks for the good work,was amazing!!!!"
S1, at Nyamundwa dam
Near Phabeni
5/5
Tinged by HHG
12:07 PM · Mar 22, 2024

[Lisbeth]

What do they mean by "rescued"

[Richprins]

The locals kill all snakes on sight, Lis, so indeed resued!

[Lisbeth]

[Lisbeth]

From beaches to baboons, Shark Spotters brings holistic approach to human-wildlife conflict management


A male baboon watches his troop in Cape Town. (Photo: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

By Kristin Engel | 25 Apr 2025

For more than two decades, Shark Spotters has watched Cape Town’s ocean from above. Now, Shark Spotters, led by Sarah Waries, is looking to the mountains and suburbs of the southern Peninsula as it leads a new holistic approach to managing some of the city’s most controversial residents — baboons.
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Shark Spotters is known for its work in reducing the risk of shark attacks by monitoring shark activity and preventing the spatial overlap of sharks and water users at popular beaches. In March 2025, it joined SANParks, CapeNature, and the City of Cape Town in the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (task team).


Sarah Waries, CEO of Shark Spotters, a pioneering shark safety and research nonprofit organisation that has now taken over some duties to manage baboon management in the Cape Peninsula. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

The task team is now leading baboon management in the Cape Peninsula, where human-baboon conflict is perhaps one of the most controversial and politically charged issues, with more and more human-wildlife conflicts occurring.

In April alone, two baboons were shot in Simon’s Town. At the root of the increasing conflict is that as the city grows, development is increasingly encroaching on the baboon habitat, pushing baboons into residential areas in search of food, bringing them into conflict with humans. On top of this, the baboon population is increasing.

Read more: Tensions rise in Constantia as man arrested for threatening baboon monitors with firearm

Sarah Waries, Shark Spotters CEO, sat down for an interview with Daily Maverick to unpack their approach to baboon management.


Shark Spotters is a pioneering shark safety and research nonprofit organisation that has proactively reduced interactions and conflict between recreational water users and white sharks. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

“It seems a bit weird to think of Shark Spotters doing baboon management. But essentially, it’s human wildlife conflict. And we’ve done human-wildlife conflict since 2004 (working with the city as a partner since 2006).

From sharks to baboons — and people

Shark Spotters is bringing a more holistic approach to baboon management, and Waries explains that it was this ethos that has made the Shark Spotters programme so effective: “It’s applicable to any kind of human-wildlife conflict.”

Waries said that they couldn’t look at the matter from just one perspective; it required a multifaceted understanding of the animals and the people involved, to educate communities, and to try to conserve and protect the wildlife.

She said that while human-shark interactions were rare, they were highly traumatic, with just one incident having far-reaching consequences.

In contrast, conflicts involving baboons were more persistent and cumulative, involving continuous, but smaller incidents. Despite their differences, both types of conflict were significant in their own ways.


Baboons are guided off the road near Cape Point on 24 October 2012. (Photo: Gallo Images / Nardus Engelbrecht)

“[Baboons] are probably the most contentious human-wildlife issue that we have in the Western Cape … I would say, in the whole of South Africa,” Waries said.

This was because people were dealing daily with wildlife coming into the urban area, resulting in conflicts. Waries said that this was when they spoke to the city and the task team, which had also been examining all the solutions.

• “Human-wildlife conflict is unpredictable, it’s changing all the time, it’s dynamic,” Waries said, thus any management body needed to be able to respond to incidents with flexibility.

Because teams were restricted to contracts, service providers were unable to change their activities or their area of focus, and the client (the city) couldn’t change the conditions of the contract.

“It’s very rigid and then you get very stuck because you can’t respond to situations,” Waries explained.

How Shark Spotters was doing things differently was that instead of going through a tender process, it had essentially expanded its existing human-wildlife conflict management partnership with the city through a Memorandum of Understanding.

With that, Waries said the conditions allowed for the flexibility and adaptability needed to try to manage a dynamic situation, and better allocate resources.


Shark Spotters has taken over some operational responsibilities in the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team. Above is the Shark Spotters information centre in Muizenberg, Cape Town. (Photo: Kristin Engel)


The City of Cape Town’s Coastal Management Department and Shark Spotters share an administrative office in Muizenberg, Cape Town. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

When asked if Shark Spotters had taken on the previous contractors, Waries said, “We’ve taken over every single employee who was working for NCC, the previous contractor, and we brought them all over with the same or better conditions.”

Waries said the rangers now had slightly better working conditions, and they had tried to improve as much as they could within the restrictions they were given. They had also increased the number of rangers on each troop.

Holistic approach to baboon management

Waries said the strategy they had been implementing was the Cape Peninsula Baboon Strategic Management Plan, the result of the collective effort of the members of the task team.

The joint task team — SANParks, the , and CapeNature – developed the strategic management plan, but Waries said its implementation had been difficult, and that the only thing that had been used from it so far was the ranger programme.

There were many other aspects to the strategic management plan that never progressed past discussion and acknowledgement that it should be implemented. Shark Spotters hoped to implement the plan more effectively and holistically.

“Essentially, most of what our approach is, is to take the strategic management plan and start implementing the additional bits. The ranger programme is the foundation of everything… we’ll always need the boots on the ground,” said Waries.

Read more: Cape Peninsula baboons — outdated management framework persists despite legal mandate

Waries said the idea was to then build on that with strategic fencing, tracking animals, seeing where they move, and trying to understand those strategies.


A baby baboon and mother in Kommetjie, Cape Town. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Nic Bothma)

For example, Waries said the northern population of baboons had seen a lot of population growth. One aspect under investigation was the feasibility of contraception and sterilisation to see if that would help control numbers in the urban area.

“It’s very interesting, because you’ve got the north, which is a growing population, and it’s growing quite rapidly. And then the south, where the numbers aren’t growing very much at all, but you also have high levels of conflict in places like Simon’s Town and Kommetjie. It’s very nuanced.

“Each area and each troop has very different, specific challenges. It’s trying to look at those and work with communities, with affected residents and landowners and authorities,” Waries said.

In the past three-and-a-half months, Waries said they had gone much further in carrying out feasibility studies and actioning the strategic plan holistically.

“We’re trying to move fast on that, because we know that there just isn’t the tolerance for the kind of high levels of conflict that there have been.

• “To see baboons being shot on a weekly basis now, shows a failure on our part. And I don’t mean ours as the task team [alone], I mean, ours as people in general, that like we have led to this situation where people feel they can take the law into their own hands.

“Baboons are being shot regularly,” said Waries.

She said this was between the authorities, the communities and everyone involved, because the situation had not previously been properly addressed.

Shark Spotters spent the first two months of their new role, all day every day, in stakeholder engagement meetings with anybody who contacted them, as well as the people they knew were involved.

“A lot of it was that people just needed somebody to listen, because no one had really listened over the years, because of the many challenges. So it doesn’t matter if you’re the person who would strap yourself to a tree to save a baboon, or you’re the person who would shoot at the baboon… we will hear everybody’s perspectives and try and find the consensus somewhere in the middle,” said Waries.


A baboon on a hill in Simon’s Town. (Photo: EPA / Nic Bothma)

In terms of the deliverables, Shark Spotters hopes to keep baboons from urban areas by using the ranger programme to prolong the time they spend away from those areas, while implementing other parts of the strategic baboon management plan.

Shark Spotters now manages 12 baboon troops across the southern and northern parts of the Cape Peninsula, with each troop and area posing its own challenges, depending on how accessible the attractants are.

• “Baboons are clever and they are strategising… They’ve fooled me on many occasions, in my house. They’re incredibly clever and they’re not predictable,” said Waries.

Waries reflected on a recent experience where the team kept baboons out of Simon’s Town for about nine days, leading the team to think it finally had a winning strategy.

But then, on a misty morning, the baboons knew exactly what to do.

“They used the mist as cover and they broke back down into town because, of course, the rangers couldn’t see where they all were,” said Waries.

Waries said the rangers had years of experience and knew that if the baboons got past a certain point in each area, they would struggle to manage them and prevent conflicts. So while trying to stop them from going past that point, the baboons sometimes sneaked around and moved past somewhere else.

So, constant strategic planning and management were needed in each area for each troop.

Welfare of baboons and people

Waries added that they had to move away from dealing with this kind of human-wildlife conflict in isolation.

This was especially because, at the moment, welfare outcomes for baboons were “atrocious” when they spent so much time in urban areas.

“We’ve got a couple of baboons and some of the troops that spend a lot of time in urban areas that have a lot of hair loss, and we’re trying to investigate exactly what it is that’s causing this hair loss,” said Waries.

Then there was also the impact on community welfare due to the stress and frustration of the situation.

Read more: Baboons and human fear – a deep history behind the cruel attacks in South Africa

“You get very opposing, polarised camps within the baboon sphere. People who love baboons and people who hate baboons,” Waries said.

Managing and finding balance between these factions was among the issues, Waries said, that they had discussed at length with the city.

“We all know it’s not good for baboons to be in urban areas. Whether you are a baboon lover or a baboon hater, everybody agrees that it’s not good for baboons or people for them to be in urban areas,” Waries said, adding that this was one consensus they could work with.

What they were focused on was managing baboons and people.

“People must recognise that they live in an area that was a natural baboon habitat. So there’s a likelihood that there will be baboons in the area. But also, we need to realise that baboons going into people’s dustbins, houses, etc, is not sustainable. So we need to manage them in the urban area… It’s the same for any wildlife,” said Waries.

Read more: Why try to undermine a court order that can benefit baboons and communities?

Waries reiterated that baboons were very intelligent. There are many other animals involved in human-wildlife conflict on the urban edge, but baboons in particular triggered quite strong responses.

On their experience so far, Waries said it had been a big learning curve, but they had managed to retain all the staff who had been dealing with the baboon issue before, plus the contribution of the Shark Spotters’ differing experience and expertise.

“I can’t promise that baboons are never going to come to urban areas again. But if we can reduce it to tolerable amounts, then it’s more well-managed,” said Waries. DM

[Richprins]

Yes one must shoot the baboons when they become dangerous...

[Lisbeth]

They do not fit in with humans