Baboons have revealed their hand, and that’s why a sanctuary is the best option

As authorities deal with the Western Cape’s urban baboon problem, which has cost tens of millions of rands, the only solution, this researcher believes, is the establishment of a secure sanctuary to protect the primates’ welfare.

Professor M Justin O’Riain is director of the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa, University of Cape Town.

I first encountered the Waterfall troop in 2007. They were sitting in the sun at Happy Valley Home, having just enjoyed a breakfast of stale doughnuts with the residents. The manager, Mrs Dolly, had asked us (the Baboon Research Unit at UCT) to visit because the baboons were, in her opinion, “getting a bit too friendly”.

“Too friendly” meant taking food out of people’s hands rather than waiting for a handout, entering the tiny kitchen during meal preparation time and entering the dormitories to search for food. In Mrs Dolly’s opinion all these behaviours were becoming more frequent and the baboons more assertive.

Mrs Dolly’s fears were ultimately justified. In 2010 a large male entered the men’s dormitory and grabbed a bag of sugar. In the ensuing chase the baboon pushed over an elderly man who fell off an elevated walkway and subsequently died of his injuries.

While clearly an accident, this incident highlights the untenable situation of humans and baboons sharing urban space. Baboon-proofing of doors and windows ensued but the baboons always found a way around these obstacles because their efficacy depends on human behaviour. Having baboons in urban areas never ends well and it is usually the baboon being assigned the death certificate.

In 2007 there was no management of baboons in Simons Town. It was to each their own in a lose-lose battle of wits and vigilance against agility, power and persistence. The Simon’s Town Civic Association did its best with a limited budget to scare baboons away from urban areas, but conflict remained chronic.

At a town hall meeting in 2009 the atmosphere was hostile and decidedly anti-baboon, with a request for the CapeNature representative to “catch the lot and truck them to the Overberg or further” receiving the most effusive applause of the night.

In 2010 the first management efforts upset the Waterfall troop’s daily meandering through town and provided a brief reprieve for businesses, the navy and residents. But as visiting Professor Shirley Strum warned, “the damage was already done”.

Strum, who has dedicated her working life to understanding baboons, warned that habituated baboons would be impossible to deter from urban landscapes with high rewards relative to natural habitat. She recommended that the troop be culled, stating that they were the worst-behaved baboons she had ever encountered.

Despite this the authorities invested tens of millions of rands from 2010 to 2026 trying to deter the troop with non-lethal methods.