On the 29th of April 2024, the Overstrand Municipality announced its new proposed baboon management plan for Pringle Bay at a special Ward 10 Council Meeting.  

BACKGROUND

Prior to the announcement of this new proposed management plan, the Overstrand Baboon Management Programme for Pringle Bay included baboon monitoring by Municipal Eco Rangers.

The Overstrand Municipality implemented an Early Warning System to warn residents and business owners in Pringle Bay that the baboons were entering the urban area and the Pringle Bay central business district.  This system was implemented so that residents and business owners had an opportunity to close doors and windows timeously.  

According to the media statement (see below) published on the 3rd April 2023, the Eco Rangers Early Warning System would also assist residents and business owners manage their waste before the baboons were able to access it. 

THE NEW MANAGEMENT PLAN 2024

The NEW baboon management plan (see below) announced by the  Overstrand Municipality on Monday, 29th of April 2024, has been devised as an attempt to move the Pringle Bay baboon troop away from the low-lying areas of Pringle Bay between the mountain and the coastline.  This is one of the areas where the baboons prefer to forage, and where they have foraged for hundreds of years.  

The Overstrand Municipality's decision is based upon unverified reports, obtained of increased human baboon conflict in Pringle Bay obtained from some residents of Pringle Bay. 

The reason that the baboons are more commonly sighted in Pringle Bay is due to the fact that urban development has been allowed to flourish in the baboon's natural range area. A fault that must be surely be that of the town planners and environmental advisors rather than that of the baboons. This unnatural forced removal of baboons from their natural range in Pringle Bay has failed before with dire consequences.

Instead of enforcing common sense and their own municipal by-laws, which include baboon proofing homes, securing human food waste bins and rebuilding the outdated and overstrained waste dump site, which encourage the baboons to remain in the village, the environmental department has opted to introduce a variety of weapons including paint ball guns, water cannons, gel blasters and bear bangers in an attempt to force the baboons to alter their natural habits. 

Residents of Pringle Bay are cognisant of the fact that the National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) temporarily withdrew its support for the use of paintballs to manage baboons after a juvenile baboon was killed in Simonstown, near Cape Town in 2021.  "Just because this method was utilised  years ago does not mean it should be used continued today, especially when there may be alternative methods that can be used to achieve the same outcome." 

The use of paintball guns to manage baboons has always been a contentious issue since they were first introduced as a management tool in 2012 on the Cape Peninsula.  

Paint ball guns were introduced as a mechanism which was supposed to be used under strict guidelines. The baboons were never meant to be directly targeted.  However, this led to the introduction of the so called "landscape of fear", an attempt to create the association for the baboons that when they entered an urban area that they would be frightened or feel pain. This methodology resulted  in many baboons being injured, including mother's with babies. 

The paintball guns were also only meant to be used in urban areas but there has been video evidence recorded that these paintball guns were used in foraging areas away from the urban areas. Such evidence was also recorded in Pringle Bay between December 2022 and March 2023.  The premise of supposedly creating an aversion to being in the urban area for the baboons fell apart.

The baboons were shot in both the urban and natural areas, this supposed management of baboons was highly publicised and considered a failure by many residents in the Overstrand and on the Cape Peninsula. As a last resort the management company hired by the municipality demanded that male baboons were permanently removed from Pringle Bay. 

The Overstrand Municipality has refused to engage with at least two concerned environmental conservation organisations, there have been no meaningful discussions about various options for the management of baboons.  Attempts to discuss an alternative harmonious co-existence with baboons has fallen on deaf ears.

The Overstrand Municipality have ignored offers to fund the rebuilding of the waste dump site in Pringle Bay which attracts the baboons to the urban area of Pringle Bay on daily basis. 

Concerned residents, wildlife conservation organisations and animal welfare organisations are opposing the re-introduction of paintballs guns and other violent methods as a management tool. 

There has been no democratic consultation or meaningful discussion in the Overstrand area with regard to the introduction of a violent baboon management strategy.  

References: 

https://pringlebayratepayers.co.za/pringle-bay-troop-adaptive-management-plan/​

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-12-30-how-the-capes-baboon-management-programme-is-evolving-into-human-on-human-conflict/​

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