Human-baboon conflict mitigation

DW (English)

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.

Transcript

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)

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