Monitoring baboons proves a challenge

Writer: De Waal Steyn.

The team from Human Wildlife Solutions (HWS) who were appointed in November 2019 by Overstrand Municipality to manage the Voëlklip and Pringle Bay baboon troops had their hands full over the holiday season with the abundance of human-derived food drawing baboons into the suburbs.

According to a baboon management report by the municipality, the team had to constantly deal with rogue baboons that have been moving in and out of the urban environment for years without management.

“These rogue baboons have been pulling the troop in various directions and have made the physical implementation of the ‘virtual fence’ impossible. If the fence is implemented while the troop is split into various smaller groups, it will be impossible to maintain it and the programme will not succeed,” states the report.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 3)