Update
VANWYKSDORP NEWS - CapeNature has lodged a criminal charge with SAPS regarding a person who captured baboons in a cage on a farm near Vanwyksdorp.
This refers to an incident on a private nature reserve registered with CapeNature, some 2 km from Vanwyksdorp, where a number of baboons were trapped in a cage for a prolonged period of time.
After consulting with the Cape Nature, NSPCA and Baboon Matters, it was unanimously agreed that the baboons must be urgently released and concerned neighbours and townspeople helped release the frantic animals. To the community members’ shock and dismay, numerous bullet casings and a pit of decaying baboon carcasses were found near the cage.
“Clearly trapping and cold blooded murdering of baboons in an on-going and illegal way goes against everything that this property has been registered for,” said Liz Eglington, spokesperson for concerned neighbours who was brought in after the initial discovery and release of the trapped baboons.
“A small portion of the farm is allowed to be farmed under specific exclusions in the contract for certain demarcated land, while the vast majority of the farm is under the CapeNature agreement,” said Eglington.
“The killing of baboons has allegedly been going on for a very long time. What concerns us as residents is how many hundreds, if not thousands, of baboons, have been murdered by this person. Witnesses report and have taken photographs of piles of baboon carcasses spread around the area next to the Groot River, which poses a serious contamination risk.”
Eglington believes it is not necessary to massacre the baboons in order to manage their numbers. “I have been farming in the Rooiberg Mountains 4 km from Vanwyksdorp for 20 years and a large troop of baboons live in the kloof on my property. Even though I farm fruit and vegetables, the baboons and I have lived side by side reasonably peacefully. It is only in the last two years that the baboons have come looking for food on my farm, but that is understandable with this terrible drought.”
According to Eglington, she has done research in order to find a peaceful and human method of protecting her produce. “I have come across many solutions, which I have implemented and which are working.”
Read a related article: Capture and death of baboons investigated
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