Baboon Wars: Enforcing Movement Through Fear
Ian Redmond answers our questions, warning against paintballing and "the slow extermination of an indigenous species"
The concerns put to Ian include reported use of paintball guns targeting the baboons around the area of the Kogelfontein baboon camps, the confinement of the Seaforth and Waterfall troops behind electrified fencing, the danger of the fast-running Cape Town wildfires, potential environmental degradation and the management plan involving fertility control and euthanasia. We shared extensive literature and included Dr David Gaynor’s alternative proposal, which Ian strongly endorsed as viable. (see link in notes)
The City of Cape Town's plan to capture and permanently confine the Seaforth and Waterfall baboon troops has become a literal war zone. The consequences of what is happening extend far beyond the wild baboons destined to be locked inside the cages at Kogelfontein. This is all taking place within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where protecting natural heritage should mean more than removing wildlife that has become inconvenient to rapid human encroachment.
Paintballing and the Groot Olifantsbos Troop
LionExpose: “Baboon Monitors have upped the use of paintball guns on the GOB (Groot Olifantsbos) troop, which roam and live in the area where the Kogelfontein cages are built. Allegedly, this is to enforce a strict movement regime on them and deter them from the area. In fact, the troop is often investigating the cages ( see our video Baboon Wars ). People are widely reporting (we have evidence) that Baboon Monitors are shooting, chasing and shouting at the baboons while they are trying to forage and that the baboons are "totally stressed out". This is happening daily in anticipation of capture-permit approval and the City bringing in the two troops to put inside the cages: Seaforth (16) and Waterfall (44). Any comment on this?”
Ian Redmond: “Shooting at baboons with paintball guns is likely to have unintended consequences; fear is likely to lead to aggression, both within the troop and towards humans; stress is likely to compromise their immune system, increasing the likelihood of disease; accidents are more likely when fleeing from paintballs; the pain of possible direct hits on sensitive parts of their body is inhumane, in effect sanctioned cruelty. If free-living baboons are around the cages, they will likely be attracted by the food supplied to the captives (the enclosures are not big enough to support the captive troops by natural foraging alone)."
Two Troops Inside, Others Outside, Electrified Fencing and Wildfire
LionExpose “The cages are inside a volatile fire area. They range from 2.3-3.00 hectares for the Waterfall troop and 1.3 -1.6 for the Seaforth troop. The cages use standard game fencing and are electrified on both sides; this barrier will separate both troops. What could be the effects on the captured troops, who normally avoid each other, of being trapped near each other and, of course, being exposed to electric fencing?”
Ian Redmond: “Placing two troops beside each other in the territory of a third troop is likely to lead to aggressive displays and frustration as attempted interaction, whether friendly or aggressive, is thwarted. I am also concerned about the ecological consequences of concentrated baboon activity in the enclosures, likely to lead to habitat degradation, and the absence of baboon activity in their previous home ranges leading to changes in vegetation, invertebrate populations and the birds and reptiles that feed on them.
Primates are keystone species in their natural habitat, dispersing seeds in their dung, pruning plants as they feed and fertilising soils with their droppings; removing them will trigger a cascade of ecological changes as species that are ecologically dependent on baboons decline. The fire risk is of particular concern as the baboons might be trapped against the fence while trying to flee the flames." https://www.lionexpose.org.za/post/baboon-wars
Fertility Control and a Unesco World Heritage Site
LionExpose:”The Baboon Management Plan states that before being translocated, the captured baboons will have their health assessed and baboons deemed to be in bad health will be euthanised. They also plan to vasectomise the males. Effectively, this is an end-of-life facility. Have you any comments on this and how it could affect troop dynamics?”
Ian Redmond: "Some kind of fertility regulation would be necessary to control numbers in this confined space, but for a social animal like a primate, for whom infants and juveniles are an essential part of family life, preventing all breeding seems misguided. It is the slow extermination of an indigenous species - and the fact that it is in a UNESCO World Heritage Site should be enough to reject the idea immediately. Natural heritage includes all the species that form the ecosystem being protected”
"I urge the decision-makers involved to pause, take advice from ecologists and primatologists, and come up with a better plan for co-existence - one that recognises the important ecological role baboons play as well as addressing the welfare concerns of the animals and public safety in the areas now occupied by humans."
Baboon Tightrope: The End Game
The Seaforth and Waterfall troops cannot speak for themselves. Once captured, the consequences will be irreversible. Those who authorize this operation must answer for its impact on the baboons, the surrounding ecosystem, and the region’s biodiversity.
Human–baboon conflict is serious, but independent primatologists, including Ian Redmond, should be consulted to assess the risks, explore alternatives, and address the long-term implications.
These issues must be confronted before capture, not explained away after.
These baboons are also caring for their babies.
Imagine…
© LionExpose
Notes and Links
Section 31 & 29 of the Nature Conservation Ordinance: These provincial statutes govern the capture, transport, and captivity of wild animals. By law, permanent captivity is treated as a last resort. CapeNature cannot legally issue a Section 31 captivity permit if it has not formally evaluated and ruled out less-restrictive alternatives—such as the perimeter fencing models they are currently deploying in the northern Peninsula—for the southern troops.
The shift to skip the phased trial was solely passed as an internal policy agreement by the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT). The three member authorities (City of Cape Town, SANParks, and CapeNature) mutually agreed to abandon the phased trial.
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