SHARE WITH US: Baboons on your radar: What do you really know?

SHARE WITH USA deep-dive series examines Cape Town’s escalating baboon conflict from the perspectives of authorities, scientists, residents, conservationists and the baboons themselves. A juvenile baboon from the Seaforth troop, with False Bay in the background. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer) On the Cape Peninsula, the issue of free-ranging baboons invading parts of thecity precincts as the city pushes up into their home range has escalated intoa war zone. Claims of home invasions, baboons being shot and dogs set onthem. It’s been getting nastier and nastier.A hundred years ago they were legally classed as vermin and shot onsight. If I remember, there was a reward system. These days, given themassive damage humans have been doing to wildlife – and with much moreenlightened legal protection (well, mostly) – other arrangements have tobe made to deal with the issue.With this in mind, Maverick Earth decided to do a near-forensic deepdive into the whole issue and the imminent outcome. We’re giving everyside space to state their case without anyone being given a yellow card– until the end. It’s going to be quite a wild ride and looks like this:The position of:The City, SANParks and Cape Nature.Baboon scientists who don’t always agreePeople and NGOs trying to protect baboonsThe builders of a camp to detain troops for lifeThe view of Jane the baboonWe’re going to run a little experiment, because we trust your judgement as thoughtful readers. Before we start running the series on Monday, 5 October, we’d like you to tell us: Do you understand the baboon conflict well enough to have an informed view? We’ll ask you the same question after you’ve read the series.The experiment is really to see if we’re doing our job of providing you with information to make good choices. Take a moment to help us remain the best news platform in the country.What questions do you have about the baboon conflict? Tell us in the comments below. DMMaverick Earthbaboonscity of cape townSANParksCape NatureMaverick InsiderAbout UsContact UsBlogHelp us fund independent journalism to make sure that it remains free for all to read.Join the 32,000 Maverick Insiders who contribute monthly (or annually) to our membership community and you can rest assured of getting the latest reporting every day without a hitch.Daily Maverick © All rights reserved91daf42#master @ 2026-09-30T10:58:41Z