Baboon Rangers have been secured for the December period as an imperative force to keep both communities and wildlife safe during the holiday season:
Cape Town, South Africa (18 November 2024) — As more people head to Cape Town for December festivities and holiday plans, wildlife organisations are making moves to ensure that both the Cape’s wildlife and communities will have protection. As such, CapeNature and the City of Cape Town have confirmed that baboon rangers have been secured for the December period.
While many communities know the relationship their areas have with baboons well, the animals are oftentimes at risk when there is an influx of newcomers. This is because many may become frightened upon spotting a stray baboon; resorting to measures of self-protecting that can be harmful to the animal. Baboons are also drawn to the same thing most animals are—food—and this can increase the number of baboons in an area when proper waste management is not in place.
Baboon rangers play an important part as the middle-people between communities and wildlife by monitoring the baboons in an area and keeping troops to their natural environments as much as possible.
Due to limited funding, the number of rangers is less this year. This means that people are encouraged to practice responsible waste management and vigilance.
The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) which consists of representatives from SANParks, CapeNature and the COCT confirmed that there are other processes underway that hope to facilitate the transition to a more sustainable urban baboon programme.
Said processes are:
- To appoint a contractor for a 12-month period, on a month-to-month basis, as an interim solution
- A partnership with a non-profit organisation that can receive grant funding from the CPBMJTT partners, as well as funding, sponsorships and donations from external sources such as affected communities, businesses and the general public as the longer term solution. It is foreseen that the NPO will perform selected operational and other tasks needed in implementing the Baboon Strategic Management Plan.
