After two recent unsuccessful attempts to relocate a young male dispersing baboon, CapeNature, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, and the City of Cape Town made a joint decision to have the baboon removed from the Cape Peninsula.
This comes after he failed to integrate with the Da Gama troop on two occasions (the first was on 21 December 2021 and the second on 23 February 2022). SWB12, as he is called, left his natal troop in October 2021.
The joint decision is based on SWB12 being exposed to many dangers in the urban environment (dogs, traffic, and hostility from some residents), the recent relocation attempts which were unsuccessful and the attempts to keep SWB12 in his natural environment has been futile.
Organisations are now invited to apply to CapeNature to translocate the baboon from the Smitswinkel Bay troop to a suitable wildlife facility outside of the Western Cape.
In a statement, it was said that interested organisations will have until 11 March 2022 to apply for a permit to translocate the baboon and the processing of these applications will be prioritised.
SWB12 has been spending all of his time in Simon’s Town and surrounds, “displaying raiding behaviour” but CapeNature, the CGHSPCA, and the City are calling on everyone to not follow or interfere with the young baboon in any way.
“If no applications are received, or none is successful, CapeNature, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, and the City of Cape Town will reconvene as soon as possible to decide the future of the baboon, under the leadership of CapeNature.
“In the meantime, the City’s service provider, NCC Environmental Services, will keep on monitoring SWB12,” the statement adds.
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