Baboon hunter plan ‘a precautionary measure’

ANIMAL activists in Knysna have expressed outrage over a tender on the municipality's website, which they say calls for a hunter to euthanise two alpha baboons that have been raiding in the Huntershome/Pezula residential area.

But the municipality said yesterday that it had not killed any baboons, and permission to euthanise the “problem-causing” animals would be requested from CapeNature. To date, no application had been made, it added.

Animal activists called for the community to force the municipality to reassess the situation, saying the killing or shooting of the male baboons was not only cruel, but unnecessary.

Stephen Langlands, of the Knysna Municipality, said they had had meetings with residents and CapeNature to try to find a solution to the problem.

“We have put out two RFQ's (request for quote) recently. One for a service provider to assess the baboon-affected areas by gathering information on the troop movement, size, etc.

“The second (RFQ) was for a professional hunter, and has caused much concern.

“The municipality is not planning to cull any baboons.

“As the baboons, especially some males, have been quite aggressive, this is a precautionary measure to make sure that should there be a life-threatening situation, we can act.

“If there is a need to euthanise a baboon, the right steps will be followed and an application will be made with CapeNature for the necessary permit,” Langlands said.

Knysna resident Sharon Dreyer said the statement by the municipality was “damage control”.

“This tender that they put out was never announced on their Facebook page or anything like that.

“I just find it very sneaky that it just appeared on the municipality's website.

“It's just a short-term solution, it's not viable to kill an alpha male, which leaves more aggression within the troop as males fight for dominance.

“Also it is no guarantee that the new alpha will be a better leader of the troop, and the only reason they have put that statement out is because there is so much uproar about it,” she said.