The Cape of Good Hope SPCA has called on the members of the public to refrain from using pellet guns on baboons. This comes after a juvenile female baboon died after sustaining wounds from being shot at with a pellet gun.
According to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA fundraising manager and Chief inspector, Jaco Pieterse, the baboon was shot on 20 May on Monterey Drive in Constantia. He said the SPCA has since laid criminal charges against the resident and the matter is under investigation.
The SPCA stated that despite numerous educational efforts and legislative measures, the use of pellet guns as a weapon to “deter” baboons remains commonplace on the Cape Peninsula, with pellet gun injuries remaining one of the leading causes of death for peninsula baboons. They added that “90% of baboons that they x-ray (for any veterinary reason), show at least 1 metal pellet lodged in their body.”
“Even when fired from some distance, the pellets fired from these air guns can cause tissue damage similar to that inflicted by small calibre bullets fired from rifles and handguns. The potentially debilitating, often fatal nature of penetrating injuries from pellet gunshots, especially those to the chest, abdomen, eye, or head are well documented, and death from a pellet gun wound is rarely immediate.
“The wounds in animals we commonly see being caused by pellets are the sort where internal bleeding, acute blood loss, intestinal perforation and subsequent necrosis, broken bones and spinal injuries have led to paralysis or a prolonged and agonising death,” they said.
Pieterse said this happens too often, and they would like to create awareness for the sake of the baboons.
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