Probe into killing of another baboon

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into yet another suspected baboon shooter in the South Peninsula after a young baboon, apparently trying to escape someone with a pellet gun, died in Simon’s Town a week ago.

The animal is one of at least three that have been killed in the peninsula in less than three months. After the initial two incidents, a Scarborough resident was identified as the suspected shooter and the Cape of Good Hope SPCA lodged a criminal complaint.

The man, whose name has not been disclosed, is expected to appear in the Simon’s Town Magis- trate’s Court on Tuesday. In the third and most recent incident, a male baboon was targeted in Da Gama Park on Valentine’s Day. Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokeswoman Belinda Abraham said members from Human Wildlife Solutions, a group that tries to resolve conflict between people and animals, had rushed to the scene.

“The exact cause of death has not yet been established, but the allegations are that the baboon was shot with a pellet gun, managed to climb up a tree in an attempt to escape, and then had a rock thrown at it, which resulted in the baboon falling into a river, where it died,” she said.

Abraham said the case was one of three involving the alleged shooting of baboons that the SPCA was probing. In December two baboons, a juvenile male and a female with a three- month- old baby, were shot within a week of each other in Scarborough.

The male had to be put down because of its injuries, while the female died on the scene. These incidents sparked an uproar on social media, with residents on Facebook calling for “the Scarborough shooter” to leave the area. The organisation Baboon Matters posted on Facebook about the February 14 incident. One poster said it was understood that an adult had shot the baboon, then the shooter’s child threw a rock at it.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za