Management of the Peninsula's baboon troops is in crisis again, with no monitors on duty after existing funding come to an end.
The baboons have been quick to respond to the lack of control since Wednesday. They have reportedly caused chaos in most of the nine areas where they regularly come into conflict with South Peninsula residents, including Kommetjie, Scarborough and Tokai/Constantia.
A resident of Price Drive in Constantia claimed they had caused damage estimated at R257nbsp;000 on his property, although baboon conservationists have met this with scepticism.
The use of monitors, who try to keep the various baboon troops out of urban areas and prevent them from being harmed or injured by humans and dogs, is the main strategy for reducing baboon-human conflict on the Peninsula.
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But the current lack of funding has left the 27 who were on the job until the end of September without work.
The monitors were funded partly from a three-year, R3,5-million poverty relief grant from the national government to CapeNature, that has now ended, and from the City of Cape Town.
Last September, the city's mayoral committee approved expenditure of R950 000 for baboon management in the Peninsula.
This is co-ordinated by the Baboon Management Team, a co-operative group comprising conservation agency and city officials, primate experts and private conservationists.
The chairperson of the team, CapeNature's Natasha Wilson, was busy in the field and not able to comment at length. However, she confirmed the problem and said she would make a comprehensive statement later.
Conservationist Jenni Trethowan, of Baboon Matters, the company that manages the monitors, said they were starting to see "quite a bit of chaos" in all the urban areas where baboons occur.
"This (funding) needs to be resolved as soon as possible," she said on Friday.
Finding sustained funding to pay the monitors has been a constant battle over the years.
Money also dried up temporarily at the end of 2005. The city had to step in with emergency funding of R240 000 to get the then nine experienced baboon monitors back at their posts a few weeks later.
And in March 2008, the Friends of Tokai conservation group had to step into the breach with a last-minute loan of R22 500 so that monitors could be paid.
Then team chairperson Gail Cleaver of CapeNature sent out an "SOS" email to members appealing for financial help.
But she confirmed the team was to blame for the crisis then, as the City was legally unable to make payments before the team was properly VAT-registered.
The team was busy registering as a not-for-profit organisation, Cleaver added.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Argus on October 03, 2008
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