Call for ban on baboon culls
CONSERVATIONIST group Baboon Matters has called for an immediate ban on the killing of baboons in pine plantations in Mpumalanga.
It has been revealed that more than 4 000 baboons have been killed since 2008.
“Contractors employed by Forestry SA are using brutal methods to eliminate entire troops in the absence of any evidence that killing them actually reduces the level of damage to trees, and without census data. How is this legal?” said Baboon Matters founder Jenni Trethowan.
She slammed the practice as “unethical”.
The group believes that the killing of the primates should be a last resort and only allowed after sufficient research had been carried out to determine why the primates were damaging trees by stripping bark from two specific varieties of pine.
A research project conducted by international primatologists found that culling baboons did not result in decreased damage to pine trees.
Recommendations for alternative, non-lethal management of baboons in pine plantations were ignored, and the report was kept under wraps.
“Ten years after this research was presented to the industry, none of the recommendations have been implemented.”
When Baboon Matters visited the pine plantations, it made a gruesome discovery.
From bullet holes found on skeletons, it is clear that the baboons were not killed humanely, and many would have suffered greatly before dying.
Baboon Matters has requested a meeting with Minister for the Environment, Edna Molewa, to motivate for a complete ban on the killing of baboons in pine plantations until relevant research and an accurate census have been carried out. – IOL