The use of bull whips to manage baboons has been slammed by the SPCA in the Western Cape.
The organisation says it won't hesitate to take action against anyone who uses a whip to harm a baboon, including operators of the company that manages the baboon monitors in the southern Peninsula.
The Nature Conservation Corporation, which was recently awarded the contract to monitor baboons, announced on Friday it had issued its monitors with cattle whips.
Managing director Dean Ferreira said the monitors had been instructed to use the whips to create a cracking noise and not to hit the baboons.
He said the whips were being used instead of firecrackers, which could not be set off close to other animals or where there was a danger of vegetation being set alight.
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Allan Perrins, chief executive officer of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, said he had already received an uncorroborated complaint from a resident in Welcome Glen about a monitor hitting a baboon with a whip, which would be investigated.
Perrins said that in terms of the Animals Protection Act, the SPCA opposed the use of whips as a lawful and ethically acceptable means to an end.
"The baboons appear to be up against some 'Neanderthal' management techniques which have the capacity to terrify, traumatise and injure any unsuspecting, non-conforming baboon that happens to wander into 'our' space," Perrins said.
He said the monitors' arsenal now included whips and bear bangers, which are flares that make a loud noise.
"We need to guard against everyone racing out to buy a bigger and better whip as it is unlikely that the average person in the street will understand that the whips are only to be used as a noise aversion device and not as a means to whip the animals into submission," Perrins added.
Toni Brockhoven of Beauty Without Cruelty said in a statement that the use of whips was "neither humane nor the correct treatment of an animal, especially in an area where certain residents are already abusive".
"Surely the role of CapeNature is to defend and protect our natural heritage and not sjambok them into submission?" Brockhoven said.
- This article was originally published on page 7 of Cape Argus on September 12, 2009
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