The City of Cape Town may impose title deed restrictions on the urban fringe to make properties less attractive to baboons, mayoral committee member for the environment Marian Nieuwoudt said on Thursday.
She was speaking at a workshop of conservationists, city officials, NGOs, scientists and civic bodies, convened to seek solutions to the city's baboon problem.
There had been a number of reports recently of baboons raiding homes, particularly in the southern suburbs, in search of food, and confronting tourists.
Researchers say the baboons are attracted by alien vegetation such as pine, rooikrans and fruit trees, and vineyards, that offer easy food sources.
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Nieuwoudt said the city was so serious about coming to grips with the issue that if need be it would impose title deed restrictions on what people could plant in their gardens.
She said people moving into new developments on the urban edge were often unfamiliar with baboons.
"You buy the house, you don't really know the environment. The way that your lifestyle impacts on the baboons just creates havoc in interacting with them," she said.
"I foresee, really, if necessary, to restrict title deeds so... a person buying the piece of land, that they know that this is part of a protected area where they need to share with baboons.
"And therefore there is a restriction on the things that you may and you may not [do], that you are constrained in the choices you need to make.
"For instance, planting of fruit trees: planting a fruit tree or fruit garden is absolutely an invitation for them to make it their home."
The city had accepted an alien invasive strategy, which made these restrictions possible.
She said residents needed to manage their rubbish more carefully, so it was not an "open target" for baboons.
There was also a need for stricter law enforcement. People who fed baboons should be fined.
Nieuwoudt said the city was currently the only authority that "really puts cash on the table" for baboon management.
She said the situation was rather like a family where everyone enjoyed a large meal, but no-one wanted to wash the dishes afterwards.
Someone needed to take the lead in managing the baboon situation.
Conservation was not the city's mandate: it lay with the province and national governments.
Gavin Bell, an area manager with the Table Mountain National Park, which in places borders on Cape Town's urban edge, said the park had no statutory authority to practice conservation outside its boundaries.
The baboon population was free-roaming, not restricted to park land, he said.
Challenged by Western Cape MPL Mark Wiley that this attitude was contrary to the spirit in which the park was created, he said he "noted" what Wiley was saying.
"In spirit we do agree," he said. "It's just a matter of finding ways to achieve what is suggested.
"That's a process we're going through at the moment."
He was confident a way forward would be found.
There are just over 400 baboons on the Cape Peninsula.
The fertile Tokai area, with its plantations and agriculture, supports a population density of 14 baboons per square kilometre, as opposed to the Cape Point reserve, where baboons feed largely on fynbos and the density is 1.5 animals per square kilometre.
Baboons living on the urban edge are regularly electrocuted on power lines, shot, or killed in collisions with vehicles. - Sapa
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