Simonstown is a historical and UNESCO heritage, world-class destination and suburb of Cape Town, located between the beautiful shores of False Bay with its gigantic granite boulders and the Table Mountain National Park. The area is a tourist destination and home to the African penguin, Cape baboon, the Cape fur seal, several species of shark and whale, Cape clawless otter, orca and caracal.
In early December 2023, some baboons went for a swim at Boulders Beach which is a famous location for the presence of penguins and is a protected area. Their stay, which was filmed by many beachgoers, was peaceful and they did not cause any havoc; tourists loved to watch them swim, dive from rocks and play for a bit in the water, cool down and then disappear in the vegetation of the Table Mountain National Park.
On the 14 of December 2023, though, the authorities arrived in town with cages, for the capture and seemingly preventative relocation of the whole well-known and beloved Seaforth Troop, which included a heavily pregnant female, and two one-month-old babies. This plan was unexpected and approved in secrecy by the management authorities and without the consultation of residents, local monitors and stakeholders, including the local SPCA.
Luckily, the attempted capture failed on day one and the baboons, led by a panicked alpha male, Martello, fled up the mountain. This was unecessary stress, particularly for the heavily pregnant female, Mary and the two babies, Siya and Noma.
Baboons are sentient, social and intelligent animals who, to survive within their ancestral territory of thousands of years, have to go through violent management in the Peninsula, a management that compromises their survivorship and interferes with their social structures and needs, including their access to natural resources.
If captured, there are concerns that the Seaforth Troop will end up being cruelly divided and some individuals might die if sedated or because of separation stress. The concern is also that there are no identified areas where the baboons can be safely released: the Cape is densely populated and divided into urban areas and wine farms; Cape Nature, the conservation authority, has currently no mapping of areas where there are resources suitable for baboons, including water and food provision; SANParks has several times publicly declared they don`t want to increase baboon populations within the Park. Where will these baboons be released then?
Residents have for years implored the City of Cape Town to properly manage human waste and follow constitutional principles of ecologically sustainable development by planning wildlife corridors to solve the issue of a large city expanding into a UNESCO heritage site and encroaching into National Parks.
High-risk relocations and expensive, electrified, high-maintenance wildlife fences to be built up, which would only put wildlife at risk and alienate them from their resources, are not solutions for Simonstown people and wildlife.
WE URGE THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT TO INTERVENE AND PREVENT THE CRUEL MANAGEMENT OF BABOONS, IN COMPLIANCE WITH CURRENT LEGISLATION AND WITH SECTION 9 OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT BIODIVERSITY ACT. SECTION 9 CONSIDERS THE WELL-BEING OF WILD ANIMALS, INCLUDING IN MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES.
SIGN THE PETITION!
