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- The city of Cape Town and a company that manages baboon troops on the peninsula are at odds with a group of concerned residents.
- Residents of Kommetjie and its surroundings live with baboons moving through their suburbs, threatening to damage property.
- But the methods used to manage the troops have attracted much attention and criticism.
As the dispute over Kataza continues between the city of Cape Town and animal rights activists, the city is now being accused of suppressing information about the baboon management operation to avoid criticism and protests against the operation.
But the subway says some of its critics are pushing their “own agenda.”
Sources tell News24 that members of the Baboons South Representative Designated Council (CARBS) committee, appointed by ward councilman Simon Liell-Cock, are being denied information about the City’s baboon management operation, but are hopes they will be a conduit of information between residents, the City and service provider.
Two members confirmed that they had been instructed not to speak to the media.
One member, who insisted on anonymity for fear of recrimination, said:
It’s all a great joke. It’s like they just want us on the committee to say they have community representatives, but the communication is one-sided. We are not allowed to communicate with rangers or HWS [Human Wildlife Solutions] and they treat us with contempt if we question something. We receive the monthly report two months later, which is too late for us to act. They also want to blame us for ‘not educating the community’.
They claim they are condescendingly branded “activists”, as if their activism discredited their views and that their challenges to science, methods and data were being suppressed to avoid public opposition and protest.
READ | Splat! Kommetjie residents are most affected when paintballs from rangers and baboons damage property
In a formal response from the city, Liell-Cock said that “some CARBS members sympathize with ‘activists’. They attend meetings, are provided with facts and information, and then use social media and general media to push forward. their own agenda, which is often in odds with management goals. “
“The members of the CARBS committee are there as a communication mechanism and do not have a mandate to interfere in the operational activities of the designated service provider.”
Critics also claim that the outgoing service provider, HWS, manipulates the data to justify the slaughter of “troublesome” baboons and underestimates the presence of baboons in the village of Kommetjie.
The City denied the claim and referred to the HWS monthly reports, but did not confirm any independent evaluation of the HWS data or reports.
Another source claimed that HWS Managing Director Phil Richardson “admitted that he would not tell CARBS representatives if a baboon was going to be euthanized, ‘because then people in the area could try to protect the baboons.’ letting people know what is going on, so that people don’t have the opportunity to protest or prevent them from capturing and killing the baboons. “
Liell-Cock responded by saying: “… the public is not informed before management action is taken to ensure the welfare of the animals. Members of the public have directly interfered with the capture of injured baboons, compromising the welfare of the animals. animals. Public representatives were informed within 24 hours of the transfer of SK11 (also known as Kataza) to Tokai. “
He referred to an incident in which an activist chased a baboon that had broken its leg in a fight with another male and had to be captured and evaluated by a veterinarian and the SPCA.
“The activist was abusive, disruptive and violent towards HWS staff and in the process compromised the welfare of the injured baboon. That is why the public is informed AFTER the event.
“CARBS members are not involved in operational decisions and neither is the councilor. We need to be involved on a policy and criteria level, not around every decision made in terms of policies and [standard operating procedures] – that’s for the professionals to run. “
Critics also accuse the City of dismissing evidence that the baboon handling guidelines are not properly applied, ineffective, and unnecessarily harmful.
Methods
The methods include the use of paintball, bear strikes, and a virtual fence, collectively called aversive conditioning, designed to scare baboons out of residential areas.
Scarborough animal behaviorist Taryn Blyth explained that aversive conditioning was not applied correctly. “They are trying to teach baboons to stay out of residential areas, but they are continuing aversive tactics in wild areas where, according to theory, baboons should get relief. That would teach baboons to differentiate between hostile and safe areas and condition them to stay in safe areas.
But I’ve seen them keep paintballing baboons away from Lewis Gay Dam, where baboons need to drink, in a wild area where they are not a threat to humans.
OPINION | Baboon management on the urban edge of Kommetjie
News24 also witnessed how the rangers painted with baboons at the top of Slangkop, more than 400 meters from the village.
“This is counterproductive because there is nothing that the baboons can clearly connect to punishment. This is ‘non-contingent punishment’, resulting in chronic stress because there is nothing they can do to prevent it,” Blyth said.
Blyth also cited a study that showed that the virtual fence (a line of speakers from which the sounds of leopards and hyenas are played), without any genuinely aversive threat, produces desensitization.
Bradley Thorsen of Kommetjie said: “When the baboons hear the leopard sounds playing from the speakers, they initially catch their attention and look up and around. But then they just go back to what they were doing. Aside from momentarily getting their attention, it doesn’t make them get up and move. “
Baboons seem to understand what “cry wolf” means.
READ ALSO | City rejects ‘kill list’ claim
Blyth said Richardson admitted that the baboons in Kommetjie consciously broke the rangers’ line while being hit with paint.
She said: “Baboons accept aversive stimuli, because attractants in town are more convincing. This is an admission that aversive stimuli are not effective.”
Richardson stated that “bad baboons train new bad baboons. They must be eliminated before training other baboons to attack.”
“Ultimately,” Blyth said, “all that’s left is for HWS to motivate and submit requests to euthanize the ‘problem’ baboon, but in effect they are punishing the baboons for their own failures. The city would continue to cull and eliminate each ‘ problem baboon ‘… and the end result would be no baboon on the Cape Peninsula. “
The City stated that “the tactics have remained constant since 2012” and that the baboon population has in fact grown in the last eight years of aversive driving.
As the fight for Kataza continues, a new contract has been awarded to Nature Conservation Consultants (NCC), which lost the contract with HWS eight years ago. Lyndon Rhoda confirmed that NCC will meet with city officials soon “to sign the contract and discuss the protocols.”
He added that they also looked forward to meeting all the leads.
