Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Kataza wanders Tokai streets
KOMMETJIE’S most loved baboon is still on the run and seems determined to find his own way back home. Kataza was recently removed from his home in Kommetjie by the Human and Wildlife Solutions ( HWS) team and was re-homed in Tokai, which upset animal activists and residents.
Yesterday there was a commotion on the streets of Tokai as the lone wanderer was spotted there and in Constantia. He was seen at the Forest Glade Shopping Complex and looked comfortable walking past cars and people.
Founder of the Baboon Matters Trust, Jenni Trethowan, said: “Based on inaccurate data and information the City’s biodiversity department were told that Kataza was a repeat raider and splitting the troop.
“He is no better or worse than any other baboons in the troop and there is no splitting. The troop scatters when they enter the village, partly to secure quick food rewards and because they are being aggressively paint-balled.”
Trethowan noted that all baboons in the closed population on the Cape Peninsula are related to some degree.
“If the authorities are concerned about inbreeding they should not have killed 80 adult breeding baboons.”
Mayco member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Marian Nieuwoudt, said she knew some animal activists did not agree with the relocation of Kataza.