Human-baboon conflict mitigation
As baboons roam the streets of a Cape Town suburb, they wreak havoc in their search for food. That has prompted locals to devise strategies to keep both the residents and the animals safe.
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00:00 This local resident isn't fazed by the traffic whizzing past, nor are all the other baboons
00:06 here in the suburb of Cape Town.
00:08 But cute as it is to see them roaming around, they're exposed to a lot of dangers here.
00:13 After a number of baboons were killed or badly injured by cars, volunteers started a traffic
00:18 calming project.
00:20 I think that is the biggest win, is knowing that when you've managed to do a crossing
00:24 and there's been no fatality or injury.
00:27 It's always a win.
00:29 And even though it's very incremental, there has been progressiveness in terms of coexistence
00:36 in Simonstown.
00:39 The baboons can be rather mischievous, regularly damaging property in their search for food.
00:44 That's why some have called for the animals to be removed or euthanized.
00:49 The Simonstown resident has found that a drill, some industrial-strength webbing and sturdy
00:54 clips provides a kinder solution.
00:58 We stumbled across a video on YouTube of what they do in Canada and it was basically that.
01:08 And we thought, well if it can work for the bears in Canada, it sure as hell can work
01:12 for the baboons in Simonstown.
01:16 The method has proved successful, as the CCTV footage shows.
01:23 Several restaurants in Simonstown have chosen a prevention strategy closer to the source
01:28 of the problem.
01:31 Organic waste is no longer mixed with other trash.
01:34 Now it's collected in special bins that are set in a secure place for later pickup.
01:42 There's not much food in there anymore for them, which means that they hit it a lot less.
01:48 And they've decided obviously to go elsewhere to go look for food.
01:52 So the baboons have visited town a lot less regularly in terms of looking for food in
01:58 my dustbins and a lot of the other restaurants' dustbins too.
02:03 Studies have shown that baboons are considered one of the most difficult animals for humans
02:08 to coexist with.
02:12 Baboon-human conflict is an issue in several countries in Africa, including Zimbabwe, Botswana
02:18 and Ethiopia.
02:23 The conflict not only causes stress, it also carries health risk.
02:29 Baboons coming into the urban area and getting into people's houses as well as their bins,
02:35 there's potential for transmission of disease across the two species.
02:39 However, in the tests that have been done in the peninsular baboons, they've shown human
02:46 pathogens, they've certainly shown cytomegalovirus and hepatitis A. And then secondly, they've
02:52 found a trichuris, a whipworm actually in the baboons.
02:57 So this would indicate that baboons are more at risk of getting disease from us than we
03:03 are, than they are likely to get, to give us any disease.
03:07 The waste separation initiative in Simonstown not only helps reduce interactions between
03:12 baboons and humans, it serves another purpose too.
03:18 Every day a group of volunteers collect the food waste and takes it out of town to a farm,
03:23 where it's used as pig feed.
03:27 The steady supply of kitchen scraps enables township residents to bolster their income.
03:35 By collecting the food and having them join us on these trips, it's allowed us to be able
03:40 to build summer relationships with them, as well as giving them the opportunity to take
03:45 care of themselves by collecting the food and then feeding it to their pigs, selling
03:49 their pigs and then be able to have cash in their pocket to be able to buy whatever they
03:54 need in their house.
03:57 Humans and baboons have coexisted in South Africa for centuries, but threats to the animal's
04:02 habitat have led to increased conflict.
04:05 Still as they are, the efforts in Simonstown show that coexistence is still possible, and
04:10 baboons don't need to be seen as enemies of humans, but as neighbours.
04:15 (upbeat music)
04:17 (upbeat music)