Wildlife Conservation South Africa Project #37780

Stop Killing Baboons!

by Baboon Matters Trust

Project Report | Mar 8, 2022
Baboon Matters March 2022 Report

By Jenni Trethowan | Founder member

Badly burnt hands of young baboon Kelly

Baboon Matters

Stop Killing Baboons – Report March 2022

Sadly, 2022 has not started well for baboons over much of South Africa; in the Western Cape man-started fires caused severe burn injuries to a large portion of the unmanaged Arabella troop, baboons have been knocked over and killed by vehicles on the Cape peninsula, attacked and badly injured by dogs and too many baboons are being snared and suffer heinous wounds; we thank our colleagues at Prime Crew for helping two badly injured victims of snares in the northern area of South Africa.

One of the most disturbing increases, however, is the number of baboons being shot at and either dying of wounds, or having to be euthanized as a result of injuries sustained when shot at by either pellet guns or, most recently, by a live round. It has become too easy for people to pick up weapons and fire at baboons and it is shocking to me that witnesses to these events do not report the illegal action (shooting weapons in suburban areas), let alone the cruelty to animals!

In response to injuries arising from the Kleinmond fires, Baboon Matters worked tirelessly with volunteers for nearly 3 weeks, attempting to help the burnt baboons of the Arabella troop. It was heart breaking to see the suffering baboons shuffling over devastated mountainside, holding burnt hands off the hot bare earth. Our goals to save the most severely injured baboons were thwarted by extreme weather (gale force winds, rain and then a heat wave) and we accept these are variables that any rescue effort has to deal with, but beyond these conditions our overall lack of resources and equipment was our biggest stumbling block. We hope that through continued support from you, and from our efforts, we will be able to better resourced going forward.

We are continuing to put great effort into advocacy so that baboons are given better protection by statutory bodies; simply put we have to change the official “stamp” whereby baboons are currently labelled as a “species of least concern” and move decision makers to reconsider and treat baboons as iconic wildlife worthy of ethical effective management policies.

We are continuing to provide extensive out-reach so that the general public understands baboon behaviour and learn how to manage their life-styles appropriately, for the good of not only baboons, but the planet.

There is no doubt that the global pandemic has had significant impact on many people who are suffering economic stress, health worries, schooling issues and so on; these are troubling times on our planet and it seems that as our human troubles increase, care for animals and wildlife may decrease.

We need to remind our communities, our colleagues and friends, that it is through caring for our environment, our wildlife neighbours and the way in which we manage our lives that we will find some sort of harmony, a way to co-exist and be better neighbours with each other and the wildlife.

Baboon Matters, thanks you for your support and hope that, through on-going contributions we can acquire the resources needed to help baboons and carry on with our projects.

Kelly of Arabella rescued & treated for bad burns

Volunteers working with Baboon Matters & CGHSPCA

Another baboon killed by dogs. CGHSPCA image

We need more equipment and resources

The Arabella baboons in fire burnt area

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Nov 10, 2021
2021 end of year report

By Jenni Trethowan | Founder Member

A new trap cage gifted to the CGHSPCA

In 2021, Baboon Matters, like so many organizations and NGO’s, has felt the brunt of the international Covid pandemic, but despite these overwhelming limitations we have been able to meet our short term goals and are continuing to work on medium and longer term objectives – all of which are showing positive change.

Our priority short term goal this year was the supply of Emergency Rescue Packs so that injured baboons (or other wildlife) can get appropriate veterinary care.

Wildlife and animal lover Marco Pasanisi used his engineering expertise to design a trap cage that is super-efficient as well a light and easy to use. We were thrilled to use his new trap cage to train the Greyton baboon monitors so that, should the need arise, they can quickly trap an injured animal for veterinary care. We have gifted the Cape of Good Hope SPCA with a new trap cage and were glad that they have already put the equipment to good use.

Further work on the Emergency Rescue Packs is funding dependent and we hope to get more of this essential equipment to areas where it is most needed in the new year.

Far too many baboons continue to be killed by electrocutions and we were devasted to loose charismatic baboons Khangela and Buddy to the powerlines this year, as well as juvenile baboons in other troops.

We have had collaborative meetings with all role players to ensure that problematic transformer boxes are properly insulated and hope that the City of Cape Town moves speedily so that the first two pilot projects can be rolled out early in the new year.

We have been able to assist our colleagues at Prime Crew with emergency food supplies as well as help cover a small portion of the costs associated with their first release project in which 28 baboons will be moved to the temporary release site where they will be acclimated for release to the wild.

This is a very important project to us all as the baboons so richly deserve the freedom that Prime Crew has worked so hard for and we hope that funding will enable a quick time line and allow other troops to move out to freedom in coming months.

In the past year we have continued to lobby for the workshop proposed by Baboon Matters and Baboons of the South in 2018. We were thrilled that our unwavering efforts have met with success and we will be participating in a preliminary meeting /workshop at the end of this year. This is a vital step in establishing frameworks and a process within which to work so that positive, inclusive discussion can lead to change and a policy document.

I am really pleased to report that 2021 has also seen a huge increase in the levels of resident input and more groups working for better baboons protection and environmental sustainability. In the face of lack of effective municipal waste management, resident groups have “baboon proofed” many thousands of bins across the Western Cape, residents have undertaken rolling protest actions, filed affidavits against cruelty and made it clear to the decision makers that we expect nothing t]less than fair ethical treatment for our baboons.

Baboon Matters thanks everyone who has supported our efforts and assure you that we will continue working as hard as we can in 2022 where we look forward to reporting on the outcomes of the workshop and a successful release at Prime Crew amongst other projects. Thank you for your on-going contributions, our projects are reliant on funds raised and we have so much more to do, so thank you for supporting our work.

Positive meetings to insulate transformer boxes

Kevin was critically electrocuted.

Positive campaigning leads to more involvement

Residents 'baboon proofed" thousands of bins

Prime Crew working on their first release!

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Jul 14, 2021
Stop Killing Baboons - July 2021

By Jenni Trethowan | Founder Member

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