At the online meeting one week ago, Constantia residents requested immediate action of the CT2 troop.
A female baboon from the Constantia 2 troop was put down over the weekend.
This follows from the City’s eighth and final online stakeholder meeting where over 60 affected community members and parties engaged on solutions to manage peninsula baboons, namely those north of Constantia Nek - CT2.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA received a call on Sunday to attend to what was initially thought to be an electrocuted baboon, according to chief inspector Jaco Pieterse.
He said a wildlife veterinarian had to be called in to assist with the darting of the baboon who examined her and found that a bullet had punctured her lung.
“Sadly her condition was of such a poor state and due to the severity of the wounds a decision was made to humanely euthanise her to end her suffering,” he said.
“We subsequently received an affidavit from a member of the public claiming that she saw someone with a rifle in hand after a gunshot was heard. We went to the address and interviewed the occupants, who denied shooting any baboon. At this stage there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges,” he said.
Mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews said the discharge of a firearm in an urban environment is illegal, similarly, the shooting of any wild animal.
At the online meeting on Thursday September 22, Constantia residents requested immediate action of 18 baboons of the CT2 troop that crossed Constantia Nek in August 2020 (“Baboons head north”, Bulletin, December 6, 2020).
Baboon Matters founder Jenni Trethowan said removing the rangers in April was a “recipe for disaster”. Instead she suggests adaptive management.
Constantia Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association committee member Gordon Chunnett said they, and the community, are willing to work with the City on relocation. “This needs an urgent decision for the health and wellbeing of baboons and citizens. Your reputation on this troop is at stake in the absence of a decision,” he said.
In response, Mr Andrews said the rangers had been withdrawn from the troop as they were not part of the programme. He said rangers had little to no impact and failed in keeping the baboons out of the area. The rangers are also not allowed to use tools such as bear bangers north of Constantia Nek.
Another suggestion was to remove the troop. Mr Andrews said the City supports this but it is not their mandate.
The City’s biodiversity manager Julia Wood said anyone can remove a troop after getting permission from Cape Nature.
Mr Andrews said proposals and concerns raised at the online meeting will be submitted to the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team, consisting of representatives from SANParks, the City and Cape Nature.
He said the task team was working on a draft Strategic Management Plan for the Chacma Baboons in the Cape Peninsula, which experts expected to be available for public comment by the end of November.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA is conducting a post-mortem of the baboon. “Once we receive the report, we will be able to take further action if there is evidence that can link the shooter to the incident post-mortem and plans to charge the shooter for animal cruelty. But we do need eye-witnesses. Without an eye-witness we unfortunately do not have a case,” said Mr Pieterse.
Beauty Without Cruelty is reportedly offering a R2 000 reward for any tips that lead to an arrest.
If anyone has information – which will be treated confidentially – contact the Cape of Good Hope SPCA at 021 700 4158; 021 700 4159 or 083 326 1604 (after hours emergencies).