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Juvenile Chacma baboons play on a vehicle during a raid on refuse bins by a troop of Chacma baboons foraging in the residential neighborhood of Capri in Cape Town, South Africa. REUTERS/Nic Bothma
Baboon management in Cape Town is once more in the spotlight following proposals by the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team to remove five baboon troops from the area.
The task team comprises the City of Cape Town Sanparks and Cape Nature.
Increased interaction between baboons and people have led to conflict between the species and a division over baboon management.
A protest march in Simons Town this weekend over the issue also coincides with the running of a research-based theatre production, Unruly, which explores the coexistence of urban baboons and humans.
Researcher and co-writer of the play, Dr Dylan McGarry, says the play also explores the crisis of baboon management.
“What the play does is it tries to create an opportunity for communities to come together. We are still suffering from the trauma of forced removals. Is this something we want to project and move on into the modern human world? Baboons have given us a huge sacrifice for the future of medicine worldwide. They have led to saving countless lives around the world. So, the play is a homage to that and a homage to the baboons themselves,” says McGarry.
