Animal activists reject bid to remove baboon troops from Cape Peninsula
This comes after the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT), which includes representatives of South African National Parks, Cape Nature, and the City of Cape Town, issued a controversial proposal to translocate the animals, whose population has exceeded available management resources.
Last month, the CPBMJTT submitted a proposal for public comments in which it sought to remove five troops of baboons from around the Cape Peninsula.
According to data, the population has increased far beyond management, placing pressure on available resources.
The proposal includes the following options for baboon population: translocation for rewilding, capture and removal to an existing sanctuary or to a newly established sanctuary, humane euthanasia, or a combination of these options.
Baboon troops would be removed from the following areas: Constantia Nek, Kirstenbosch, Constantia Village, Waterfall, Simon's Town, Seaforth, Murdoch Valley, Welcome Glen, Glencairn and the Da Gama residential areas.
Local and international experts have been invited to review the proposal and will be included in the project.
Meanwhile, animal activists descended on Simon's Town to protest against the removal of baboon troops.
The Cape Peninsula Civil Conservation shared in a social media post: 'These baboons are part of this place — they are not intruders, but residents of a rapidly shrinking wild world who were here long before our cityscape. As urban development continues to fragment and destroy habitats and ecosystems, baboons could be seen to be here with a message. Are we going to shoot the messenger?'. @manditshwete Baboon conservation march in Simon's Town. Hundreds of people gathered as they marched against the killing of baboons in Cape Town. #southafricatiktok #capetown #sama28 #fypシ #fyp ♬ original sound – Mandilakhe Tshwete @manditshwete #tiktoklive #livehighlights @The Cape Argus @IOL NEWS @CapeTimesSA ♬ original sound – Mandilakhe Tshwete
The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa (WAPFSA) has also strongly opposed the proposal. In a cease-and-desist letter to CPBMTT, the organisation called on authorities to develop sustainable endeavors to manage the baboon population, particularly in low-lying areas.
'From legal and good governance perspectives, ethical considerations based on sentience, flourishing, multispecies justice, and shared biology must be major considerations.
'The onus, therefore, of the CPBMJTT and their ecologists, is to formulate ethical management practices that reflect and take cognisance of multispecies interactions, peaceful cohabitation and the need for a more responsible model of harmonious multispecies co-existence'.
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