Approximately 500 chacma baboons are causing trouble for the residents of Cape Town by breaking into homes, rummaging through belongings, and stealing food.
(Video: AFP).
On a sunny afternoon in Simon’s Town, a coastal village in Cape Town, three young chacma baboons created quite a chaos. They climbed onto rooftops, jumped between buildings, and swung from rain gutters. Tourists stopped to take pictures of the troop crossing the street, while locals expressed their annoyance, as this has become a daily sight in the village nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain National Park. Approximately 500 chacma baboons, among the largest monkey species weighing up to 40 kg, roam the southern peninsula of Cape Town, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
As human development encroaches on their mountainous habitats, more chacma baboons are venturing into homes to forage in gardens and scavenge leftovers from trash bins. Some even sneak inside homes causing havoc. While many locals have affectionately named them, others are increasingly frustrated. “They have become too bold now. They are more daring than necessary,” said Duncan Low, an ice cream shop owner.
The invading baboons even raid kitchens, snatching food off plates at restaurants. According to Low, they have a particular fondness for sweets and fast food. In 2021, the city had to euthanize a dominant male baboon that terrified residents with over 40 food theft incidents, ranging from lawns to porches, and sometimes even entering homes while people were inside.
Bold chacma baboons sneaking into homes to find food.
Managing Baboons
The tension between humans and chacma baboons has reached unprecedented levels, according to ecologist Justin O’Riain, director of the African Institute for Community and Wildlife at the University of Cape Town. “A chacma baboon at the interface of wild and urban areas is one of the most challenging animals to manage in the world. They can climb and learn from one another. There is no environment they cannot invade,” O’Riain stated.
As human settlements in Cape Town expand, chacma baboons are pushed up to higher altitudes where foraging conditions are more difficult. The lush gardens humans create, filled with fruit trees and swimming pools, have become attractive to them. For years, city authorities have collaborated with the national park management to implement a baboon management program through monitoring teams.
However, some measures, such as using paintball guns to scare the baboons or euthanizing problematic individuals, have faced opposition from animal rights activists. Confronted with criticism and budget constraints, authorities have announced that the chacma baboon management program will be scaled back by the end of this year while they explore more sustainable solutions.
Thirty-three baboons have died between July 2023 and June 2024, the highest number in a decade. Nearly half of the deaths resulted from human-related factors, including paintball shootings, vehicle collisions, and dog attacks. Coexisting with chacma baboons requires cooperation from humans, including managing food waste, according to conservationist Lynda Silk, head of the Cape Peninsula Civil Conservation organization. For O’Riain, the most viable solution to deal with chacma baboons is to erect fences in certain areas, combining electric fencing and underground mesh to prevent them from digging underneath. A prototype installed 11 years ago proved highly successful, with almost no baboons entering the trial area.
