Final Action Plan for baboons includes a sanctuary, fencing, waste strategy

The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) consisting of representatives from SANParks, CapeNature, and the City of Cape Town, has finalised and adopted the Action Plan which details the practical implementation of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Strategic Management Plan. Read more below:

The Action Plan is available here: https://baboons.org.za/final-a...

Earlier this year, the CPBMJTT proposed a draft Action Plan for the practical implementation of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Strategic Management Plan (CPBSMP) that provides the framework for the sustainable management of the baboon population. The proposed Action Plan was submitted to an independent expert panel in July for review and comment; and also shared with the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group for review and comment.

The CPBMJTT considered all of the submissions in finalising the Action Plan. The plan has now been signed and approved by SANParks, CapeNature, and the City of Cape Town and will be implemented in the interest of establishing a healthy, well-managed, sustainable, free-ranging baboon population with minimal human interference, overlap and conflict and a reduction in day-to-day aversive measures.

The Action Plan includes key interventions, among which:

Removal of troops

• Seaforth troop – to be relocated to a newly established sanctuary on the peninsula by February 2026
  The baboons will be captured, undergo a veterinary health assessment and healthy males will be vasectomised. All of the healthy animals will be moved and released into a purpose-built baboon sanctuary located on the peninsula. The first trial enclosure of 1,5 hectares will be built on privately owned land on Plateau Road. The sanctuary will be assessed within six months, and if feasible, an Environmental Impact Assessment will be undertaken for two more enclosures on the same land
• Waterfall troop – to be relocated to the new sanctuary by September 2026 Once it is confirmed that the Seaforth troop has been successfully relocated to the sanctuary, the plans for the second and third enclosures will proceed. Once complete, the baboons will be captured, undergo a veterinary health assessment and healthy males will be vasectomised. All of the healthy animals will be moved and released into a purpose-built baboon sanctuary on Plateau Road.
• CT1 and CT2 troops – to be released on the mountain side by May/June 2026 The troops will be captured once the northern fence has been installed up to Groot Constantia. All of the baboons will undergo a welfare assessment and the healthy animals released on the Table Mountain National Park side of the fence, south of Constantia Nek. Any baboon that breaches the fence or moves over Constantia Nek, apart from dispersing males, will be humanely euthanised.
  

• Preventing baboons from accessing urban areas and farmland in the northern region will be achieved through the establishment of the northern boundary fence line from Zwaanswyk in the South to Constantia Nek in the North.
• The fence will consist of a semi-contiguous baboon-proof barrier built to specification. Baboon rangers will patrol and maintain the fence line, and no baboons will be allowed north of the fence or over Constantia Nek.
• The northern fence will be financed and built as a partnership between private land owners and the Cape Baboon Partnership who will also be responsible for the day-to-day management of the fence.

• The City will implement a Baboon Waste Management Strategy to mitigate the impact on baboon health and behaviour
• The strategy will include a defined roll-out of residential baboon-proof bins in high impact areas by May 2026
• The strategy will address the management of residential waste collection; regulation of residential recycling and composting, and waste management in public spaces, commercial areas, in public resorts (Miller’s Point and Soetwater); and waste management by the SA Navy, SANParks, and Porter Estate

Urban Wildlife Management By-law – to be Gazetted by November 2028

• The City will develop an Urban Wildlife Management By-law to support and strengthen existing wildlife protection and management legislation to ensure baboons and other wildlife are protected and managed in natural spaces
• A zero-tolerance approach will be enforced against anyone found to be harming, feeding or habituating baboons and the intention of the by-law is to also strengthen capacity for enforcement
• The by-law will include baboon mitigation measures that will be required for any new developments in areas adjacent to defined baboon habitat

• Regular incursions by troops or individual baboons into the urban area will no longer be accepted; authorities will keep baboons out through setting hard boundaries such as baboon-proof fences or rangers using aversion tools, or a combination of these
• Infrequent access by troops, individual baboons and dispersing males will be considered tolerable and acceptable

• The maximum sub-population number for the northern troops is set at 250 at any given time. The sub-population in this area is currently estimated at 234 (Urban Baboon Programme Annual Population Census, 2024).
• The maximum sub-population number for the southern troops excluding the deep Cape Point troops (but including GOB) is set at 175 at any given time. The current population is 164.
• If the upper population limits, as set in this Action Plan, are exceeded for longer than six months (which is the time period to allow natural processes to take place) the relevant population numbers will be reduced by the authorities. Animals will be humanely euthanised to achieve these outcomes. Animals targeted for euthanasia will include chronically sick, permanently injured and very old individuals as identified in the monthly troop counts.
• No new troops will be allowed to establish in transformed areas that will require a new team of rangers or fencing.
• The implementation of a community-based communication system will be expanded and improved to warn residents when baboons may be close so that residents can take proactive mitigation steps
• The Cape Baboon Partnership will develop and roll-out education and awareness tools for informing the public on how to respect baboons in their habitat, baboon-proof their behaviour and their homes/businesses
• The three authorities will develop and provide formal public communication to all residents living/operating businesses in areas where baboons may move through less than 10 times a year, to demonstrate care, kindness, respect and tolerance towards the baboons

• The establishment of water points in any area on City-owned land where baboon-proof fences limit access to natural water sources
• A formal application for underground power cables will be submitted to reduce the number of baboon electrocutions throughout southern subpopulation ranging areas. Greasing of electricity poles will continue in the interim to limit contact with powerlines and reduce electrocutions
• New baboon fences will be built in such a way that, where possible, provision is made for movement of other wildlife through the fences, including panels that can be opened during wildfires allowing for escape routes for baboons as well as other wildlife
• Baboon suffering, human-induced or natural, will be addressed immediately. A new response protocol has been agreed to between the Cape Baboon Partnership and the SPCA
• Health assessments are to be undertaken by veterinarians to determine the cause(s) of any health issues that are reported or where health issues are suspected (e.g. hair loss, significant weight loss, marked behavioural change)

The Action Plan is based on the principles that baboons are a valuable and integral part of the natural ecology and biodiversity of the Cape Peninsula; and that free-ranging baboons living in natural habitats form part of our collective biodiversity and cultural heritage.

The free-ranging baboon population is deserving of conservation and active wildlife management interventions to promote their health, welfare and sustainability.

• There is a limit, however, to the number of free-ranging baboons the Peninsula can sustain in terms of the natural ecology, baboon health and welfare, and management resources.

As such, the baboon population on the Peninsula requires constant management. Also, baboons spending time in urban areas have poor outcomes in terms of health and welfare and this results in habituation, changes in diet, feeding patterns and behavioural change, changes in troop dynamics, increased human and urban-induced injuries and deaths, and greater risk of zoonotic diseases spreading.

• Baboons should not live in or utilise agricultural or urban areas. While overlap may happen on the edges of these areas, the management priority is to minimise the amount of time baboons spend in human-dominated environments and prevent further habituation.

The Action Plan will be regularly reviewed to ensure the actions, assessments, and outcomes are in line with regulatory requirements, strategic direction, emerging trends, and new knowledge. The next formal review will take place in 2030.

For more information contact: cpbmjtt@capetown.gov.za