The real story - human narcissism at its best.

Some of you may have heard of the so called “humane euthanizing” of Julius, the alpha male of the small Plateau Road troop in Cape Point, but the truth is something else.

A wealthy Plateau Road farm owner managed to get a permit to hunt and shoot Julius, the alpha male. A supposed custodian of the last Cape Nature Reserve at the tip of Africa, a nature reserve that yields billions in tourism - the tourism that our economy depends on ( ten percent of the Western Cape GDP), was given permission to hunt and kill Julius. Cape Nature claims to promote and ensure nature conservation and related matters in the Province, yet they gave the permit to allow this alpha male not to be humanely put to sleep with an injection, but hunted and shot. For those who have no conscience, hunting an alpha baboon is a great trophy, it is not an easy task, and Julius would have suffered for sure, terribly! He leaves a small troop devastated and leaderless as there are no mature males in the troop ready to take his place. The only potential young male who can take over from Julius is a young injured male, half of one leg being mangled from an electrical fence injury. The troop is defenseless against other invaders. This will result in death of many babies as other dispersing males move in to take over and fight for dominance. Julius was known for being a powerful leader and defender of his troop. The troop will now wander around for weeks on end looking for their leader, scared and at risk. The integrity of the troop is destroyed. What is at risk if this specie is destroyed? - according to primatologist Dave Gaynor, “Baboons have been in the fynbos ecosystem for two million years and have been a major population in terms of biomass. One can confidently say that if they are removed, it is 100 percent sure to have an effect on the fynbos. Baboons play a significant role in plant dispersal and reproduction”.

So what led to this? Rumor has it that this powerful, influential individual was scared of the baboons and didn’t like them, even though this person didn’t spend much time in the area.  Wow! So let’s sanitize and destroy an entire troop of sentient beings to allay these fears and discomfort. Imagine a world where we all have the power to indulge our whims and narcissism. Hey, US, I’m scared of you, so I am now going to promptly press the nuke button to wipe you off the map. 

For those of us who live on the urban edge, we take every measure to baboon proof our homes with strong burglar bars on windows and doors. In extreme cases, electrical fences are used and are highly effective. Baboons will not go where there is no reward. Proper baboon proofing and waste management ensures a healthy human/baboon interaction and provides safety for both. Again, rumor has it that proper baboon proofing was not achieved along this road on these farms bordering the Nature Reserve. There is no law that says that Cape Nature is obliged to investigate or inspect properties to ensure that every effort was truly made to baboon proof before signing a death warrant for this protected specie. They rely on information and proof given by the land owner to meet the permit requirements, only if they don’t meet the requirements do they go out and do an inspection at a cost. This should be reviewed. 

Shame on us! This cannot be undone, but one thing we can do, is call for a full audit and investigation into the members of Cape Nature and the processes followed that led to this tragedy, with a call for real custodians of our Nature Reserves, who will not indulge the whims of powerful, narcissistic individuals and who understand the big picture. If they don’t care about nature and the baboons then at least they will consider the economy that relies on tourism to the amount of 15 billion a year in the Western Cape alone, which will definitely be impacted on if this news goes global. Our wildlife plays a significant role in the attraction of tourists. 

An application to the high court has been made for the permit to be made public, this is usually delayed by months with the hope that the hype blows over. If as many people as possible make a PAIA application, the more pressure will be placed on Cape Nature for transparency and justification for the permit that was granted.