Cape Town to Relocate Two Peninsula Baboon Troops — SkimNews
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- Cape Town's city council said it will "imminently" round up the Waterfall and Seaforth baboon troops, sterilise them and permanently relocate them to a newly constructed sanctuary, while also erecting a baboon-proof northern boundary fence between urban areas and nearby mountains.
- A 2025 census found the Cape Peninsula baboon population has grown from 360 in 2000 to 493 across 12 managed troops, with troops on the peninsula regularly ripping roof sheeting, raiding food pantries and breaking into homes in Simon's Town late at night.
- Behavioural ecologist Justin O'Riain, a long-time baboon researcher at the University of Cape Town, said property values in affected areas have dropped because "it's hard to sell a house when it's covered in baboon faeces and paw prints, and you know they're coming every day."
- Cape Town's baboon management programme costs about 20 million rand (£920,000) over 18 months, funding full-time rangers to shadow most of the troops and try to head off trouble before it starts.
- Animal rights activists staging months of peaceful protests argue the city should fence the Waterfall and Seaforth troops out instead of removing them — but O'Riain counters that baboons would simply walk around fence ends to the next patch of low-lying land.
- Opponents also warn relocation will cause "long-term psychological distress and social disruption" and strip the peninsula of an important seed-dispersing species.
- O'Riain said baboon welfare is already in crisis, noting animals are being poisoned, hit by cars, chased by dogs and shot — and that "just a few days ago, a baboon was shot straight through the chest."
Why it matters: Cape Town's council is moving two troops into a sanctuary as the peninsula's 493 Chacma baboons — up roughly a third since 2000 — drive daily raids on Simon's Town homes and erode property values. With 20 million rand (£920,000) already spent every 18 months on ranger patrols and active shootings of baboons now surfacing, the remove-versus-fence debate has become a costly standoff between residents, scientists and activists.
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