A ten-year-old Zimbabwean girl was bitten on her buttock by a baboon on Saturday while she was standing at the whale viewing site in the Cape Point Nature Reserve - and neither she nor anyone in her family had food or bags on them.
Pete Vincent, the doctor who gave the child a tetanus injection at Tokai Medi-Cross afterwards, said it was not clear from the bruised, raw area whether the girl had been bitten or clawed by the baboon.
Vincent said his family had had two encounters with baboons at Cape Point. Two years ago, his daughter was chased into the sea by a troop of baboons while picnicking at Buffelsbaai. "We tried to make a complaint, but there was no interest whatsoever," he said. Then, last year, his cousin was chased off the boardwalk leading from the main car park to the whale viewing site.
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Vincent said the family from Zimbabwe did not report the incident. "They just went home in absolute horror."
| 'They just went home in absolute horror' |
Phumeza Mgxashe, spokesperson for the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP), said there were signs warning people there were baboons and that they were "wild and dangerous and attracted by food". She said rangers reported that incidents involving baboons tended to happen at picnic sites, so this was a "very unusual incident".
"If (the family) had no food and were just viewing, it is unusual, but we do warn that baboons are wild and dangerous animals," she said.
She said visitors to the Cape Point section of the TMNP were also given a brochure that carried a message about the presence of baboons.
All incidents should be reported at the visitor information centre or by calling the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week control room on 086 110 6417.
| 'It is unusual, but we do warn that baboons are wild and dangerous' |
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on December 19, 2007
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