Cape Peninsula baboons face uncertain future with culling, removal on the cards

Daily Maverick

03-07-2025

A controversial plan to remove more than 120 baboons from the Cape Peninsula has sparked outrage from animal rights activists, as authorities consider options, among them euthanasia, translocation and sanctuary relocation.
A contentious proposal from the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team threatens the lives and freedom of more than 120 baboons as the team considers options for the removal of five 'splinter' baboon troops.
Citing escalating human-baboon conflict and compromised animal welfare, the task team is exploring translocation, sanctuary relocation and humane euthanasia (also known as what would be a large-scale culling), or a combination of these, as methods for removal of the troops.
The plan has ignited fierce opposition from some residents, animal welfare organisations and some conservationists, who argue that the root causes of the conflict lie in human behaviour and irresponsible urban development, not in the baboons themselves.
The task team said that baboon management in the Cape Peninsula was a complex and unique challenge that had to consider the wellbeing of both baboons and people within an urban context, and the wider social, economic and environmental challenges of having an open-access national park adjacent to the City of Cape Town.
'Baboons and people are natural competitors, with both showing a preference for low-lying, more productive land on the Peninsula,' they said.
Spatial overlap of baboons and humans has been shown to have negative consequences for both, and in the year 2000, led to the implementation of a trial management programme to reduce human-baboon conflict, primarily through the use of monitors, baboon-proof bins and education.
The team said this programme gradually evolved into a permanent baboon management programme, becoming better resourced and including an 'ever-increasing array of non-lethal and lethal management interventions' to reduce negative interactions between baboons and humans.
It said the baboon population had increased from 360 baboons living in 10 troops in 2000 to more than 600 in 17 troops in 2024. But, many of the 'new' troops had become habituated to urban spaces, resulting in poor welfare and ongoing human-wildlife conflict.
'This conflict is associated with an increase in the injury and death of baboons in urban areas with associated welfare harms, damage to property, negative lifestyle impacts and safety risks for the public,' said the task team.
This is what prompted the proposals from the draft Action Plan, which the team said operationalises the Baboon Strategic Management Plan.
The proposal and rationale
The task team, comprising the City of Cape Town, SANParks and CapeNature, released a draft Action Plan for 2025-2030, which includes the proposed removal of five 'splinter' troops: Waterfall, Seaforth, Constantia Two (CT2), Constantia One (CT1), and Da Gama Four.
While the team calls these 'splinter' troops, some have been established for decades.
According to the task team, the draft plan aims to ensure the long-term conservation, health and welfare of the Peninsula baboon population – ie a wild population that is healthy, free-ranging and with as little human interference, overlap and conflict with urban spaces as can realistically be achieved.
The task team asserts that these troops have limited access to low-lying natural land with plants of high nutritional value for foraging; that low-lying areas are too small to sustain them; that rangers have very little success in keeping the baboons out of the urban areas, leading to an over-reliance on aversion techniques; that the health and welfare of the troops are severely compromised; and escalating conflict between baboons and residents.
In response to Daily Maverick, the task team said that no decisions had yet been made on the removal proposal and that whether these troops should be removed would be considered by a panel of independent international and local experts later this month.
The options identified include translocation for rewilding; capture and removal to an existing sanctuary or to a newly established sanctuary; humane euthanasia (culling); or a combination of these options.
'Every option has advantages and disadvantages, poses certain challenges and comes at a cost,' said the team.
The task team said the draft plan was transparent about options for the way forward and said it would be available to the public after an independent review by an external panel of experts was undertaken later this month.
'As much as some interest groups prefer to focus on the proposed removal of the five splinter troops only, this is one of several options contained in the draft Action Plan,' said the team.
The draft action plan includes several proposals, including fencing, trial contraception, as well as the proposal to remove the five 'splinter' troops.
They said the limited amount of remaining low-lying natural habitat that could sustain baboons was a key consideration in the draft Action Plan because baboons which spent time in urban areas were observed to have a lower welfare status and to cause damage to properties.
The panel of experts reviewing the draft action plan will look at whether the plan aligns with ecological principles for managing a wildlife population isolated within the context of an urban environment.
They will also look at whether the plan presents a practical approach to conservation in the context of a large city, the intention to reduce the extent of and reliance on aversive tools, and to replace these with more proactive measures such as baboon-proof fencing, and/or a contraception trial.
They will assess setting upper limits to population numbers for the northern and southern troops, as well as the proposed removal of the five splinter troops, and the method of removal.
A crisis of unimplemented mitigation
However, the proposal for removal was met with strong disagreement from some of those on the ground, affected residents and groups.
Jenni Trethowan, founder of Baboon Matters Trust and a long-time advocate for baboon welfare, described the current state of human-baboon conflict as 'probably as bad as it's ever been'.
Trethowan attributed it to a lack of significant change and the failure to implement key mitigation strategies over the years. Trethowan said there had been a 'ridiculously high' death rate of baboons due to human violence, including brazen shootings.
Trethowan, who in 2016 suggested establishing a sanctuary for baboons off the Peninsula, found the current proposal of selective euthanasia 'completely untenable and unacceptable'.
She argued that if authorities were truly concerned about the baboons' health, they would focus on keeping them away from human-derived attractants by addressing waste management and implementing strategic fences.
Lorraine Holloway from Baboons of the South, with 15 years of experience in the field, echoed Trethowan's sentiments, stating that the problems began in February 2021 when baboons began entering the urban edge more frequently. She asserted that the situation was now a crisis, with baboons much more often inside urban areas due to a prolonged lack of mitigation strategies.
Holloway pointed out that the task team's own Baboon Strategic Management Plan, finalised and adopted in September 2023, had not been implemented.
'Not a thing has been implemented. It's not the first plan that has been put forward,' Holloway said. She said there has been a failure to deal with major waste problems in residential areas, businesses, picnic spots and recreational spaces, and to enforce existing by-laws, which has led to the scale of the problem.
Luana Pasanisi, a Simon's Town resident and founder of Green Group Simon's Town, firmly believes that non-lethal alternatives have not been sufficiently explored and implemented.
She criticises authorities for 'falling back on quick, reactive measures instead of fixing the real issues', such as proper waste management, habitat restoration, safe corridors and public education.
Pasanisi said they and the Simon's Town community had success with their Baboon Monitoring and Civil Coexistence Pilot Project with the Seaforth troop, where non-violent monitoring indirectly guided the baboons away from town, leading to them becoming 'calmer, cohesive, and showing signs of excellent health'.
This was after authorities announced in 2023 that they wouldn't manage the Seaforth splinter troop and instead planned to remove it.
She said that the proposal to remove these troops now was 'not a real solution; it's a short-sighted, harmful reaction'.
'We need to move away from reactive control and toward real, compassionate, smart solutions that work for both people and animals. That means restoring healthy natural habitats, creating safe corridors for baboons to move and seriously tackling urban attractants like waste.
'We also need to embed animal wellbeing into every management decision. This is not just about keeping baboons out of town, but making sure they can live safely and naturally in their environment. Coexistence is possible, but only if we shift the focus away from constantly 'policing' the baboons and start addressing the human side of the problem,' said Pasanisi.
The SPCA's stance
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA, while acknowledging the challenges of human-baboon conflict, maintained that non-lethal management methods should always be the first and preferred approach.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham told Daily Maverick that the organisation didn't believe that all humane non-lethal alternatives had been exhausted. Further exploration was required by the authorities in addition to a transparent, collaborative process.
They would prefer 'no part in a mass cull of any animals, but would, with heavy hearts, insist on direct oversight to ensure humane treatment of the baboons in accordance with the law throughout any management process'.
The SPCA said that while removal or euthanasia was being considered, its position was clear: that upending or ending the lives of these baboons could not be treated as an easy answer to a complex problem. The SPCA said it had to be truly the final option, used only if all humane, non-lethal alternatives had been sincerely tried and demonstrably failed.
'We believe more can still be done. There is scope for stronger investment in waste management, baboon-proof fencing, habitat restoration or expansion, fertility control and public education.
'These are measures that have been shown to reduce conflict without destroying lives. We urge the authorities to prioritise these solutions with renewed urgency and to demonstrate clearly to the public that every avenue has been explored with honesty and commitment,' said Abraham.
Legal and ethical justifications questioned
A significant point of contention is the legal and ethical justification for the consideration of culling in this proposal. Trethowan argued that culling did not align with legislation, specifically the Animal Protection Act and the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, which both required that mitigation was in place first. 'Mitigation clearly isn't in place,' she said.
Holloway agreed, stating that culling was a last resort and mitigation strategies had always been called for, but were 'not being done'. She also said there had been a lack of prosecutions for baboon fatalities in urban areas, despite shootings and dog attacks.
The impact of removal or culling on troop social structures and long-term population health was another major concern. Trethowan pointed out that the task team often amalgamated baboon numbers across the Peninsula, but if one looked at the southern troops, some were showing decline.
The Da Gama troop, for example, had dropped to only 15 animals, according to Trethowan. She questioned what would happen if other troops moved into the gaps left by removed baboons, and how authorities would then keep them out if they hadn't been successful thus far.
Pasanisi warned that capturing an entire troop was 'cruel, chaotic and traumatic', potentially scattering baboons, separating infants from mothers and breaking social bonds. She said relocation to a sanctuary often meant captivity, sterilisation and lifelong suffering in forced social dynamics, which for highly social and intelligent animals such as baboons, would be 'profoundly cruel'.
Inadequate engagement with stakeholders
The effectiveness of engagement with affected communities and stakeholders has been heavily criticised with the announcement of the proposal. Lynda Silk of Cape Peninsula Civil Conservation, a member of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group (CPBAG), said that they weren't in any way party to the consideration of removal for the troops.
She described the announcement as being 'presented to us as though this is happening'.
Pasanisi confirmed this, stating that the engagement had been 'wholly inadequate,' with the CPBAG barely functional and the decision to remove five troops presented as a 'done deal' at their second meeting.
Both Silk and Pasanisi argue that this is not meaningful public participation.
The task team said that the draft action plan, with these proposals, was presented to the CPBAG on 27 May 2025 where its members represented their respective communities, ratepayers' associations, stakeholders, academic and research institutions, animal welfare institutions and organisations that have a direct interest in baboon management on the Cape Peninsula.
The expert panel's findings will be shared and discussed with the CPBAG. The task team said it intended to make the draft Action Plan and panel's findings public once the expert panel review concluded.
The root cause of the problem
Conversations with residents and some baboon protection organisations consistently returned to the root causes of the conflict.
Silk said that viewing it solely as a 'baboon problem' missed the bigger picture, which was the 'irresponsible development' that had fragmented wild spaces on the Cape Peninsula, threatening baboon habitats.
She said that the rapid development of the city and its impact on biodiversity, with the city's population escalation, was often overlooked, while the increase in the baboon population was blamed.
Silk suggested that while people desired a 'magic solution' that didn't involve human management, successful baboon-human interactions globally involved a degree of human responsibility, including consequences for people whose actions attracted baboons.
Holloway concurred, stating that 'human response, irresponsibility and a lack of action by the authorities have brought us to this place'.
The SPCA agreed that human behaviour was part of the cause of this crisis, as urban growth, unsecured waste and easy food access had drawn baboons into unsafe spaces and left them with too few wild resources to thrive.
'As a community, we owe them better stewardship,' said Abraham.
Calls for humane alternatives and a long-term vision
Despite the bleak outlook, there are calls for alternative, more humane solutions. The SPCA supports improved waste management, fencing, contraception and community education.
Trethowan pointed to Hong Kong's successful macaque management programme, which focuses on inclusive programmes with residents rather than killing. This included a large-scale contraceptive programme and a feeding ban to control human provisioning for the animal.
Pasanisi advocated for the restoration of natural habitats, the creation of safe corridors, and seriously tackling urban attractants. She referred to Rooi Els's experience, where securing homes and managing waste significantly reduced baboon conflict.
The long-term vision for baboon management on the Cape Peninsula remains a point of contention, and as the task team's expert panel prepares to review the draft action plan, the future of some of the Cape Peninsula baboons hangs in the balance.
A campaign by animal welfare organisations and conservationists, including a march on 19 July (Mandela Day), is planned to fight against the proposed killing of these animals, with legal action being considered if a final decision for removal is made. DM