By Philda Essop and Willem Steenkamp
A picnic at a popular False Bay beach resort turned into a nightmare for a Cape Town family when a baboon ripped open their four-year-old boy's stomach.
Luciano "CJ" Adams from Eerste River is in a stable condition in the high-care surgical unit of the Red Cross Children's Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery after the attack at Kogel Bay on Saturday.
Luciano's grandmother Johanna Adams, who was still shocked, said the attack had left the whole family numb.
Supporting her traumatised daughter, Lucianos' mother Nicolene, she said it was through God's grace that Luciano survived.
Adams and her children, with their respective families, arrived at the Kogel Bay resort near Gordon's Bay for a picnic at around 10am.
"We had just arrived and set up our camp. The fire was burning as we planned to braai. We were about five metres from a bin in the area.
"A troop of six or seven baboons was in the vicinity scratching around for food in the bins.
"Our five children were playing on the grass when suddenly we saw the troop leader, his head down, charging towards CJ. We shouted to make him stop but the baboon was very quick.
"The baboon knocked CJ over. He fell to the ground. Whether the baboon bit him or scratched him I'm not sure but when the baboon lifted its head his mouth was full of blood.
"CJ was also covered with blood, everything happened very quickly".
The boy's aunt, Esmeralda Katts, added: "His stomach was ripped open and his intestines were hanging out."
Johanna Adams said they immediately wrapped Luciano in a blanket and started to rush him to hospital in Somerset West.
However, an emergency rescue helicopter met them at Gordon's Bay from where the boy and his mother were flown to the Red Cross Hospital.
As Luciano lay groaning with pain in his sleep in hospital after the emergency operation his mother and father Marvin Booysen looked on anxiously.
Johanna Adams said: "We are very shocked and traumatised. If we were neglectful, it would have been a different case, but we were with the children all the time.
"The baboons could not have come for our food because we hadn't put the meat on the fire. The children weren't eating anything, either.
"We usually go to Steenbras dam for picnics. There are also baboons there, but they never did anything like this. We paid to be safe at Kogel Bay. What upset me the most was that the security was nowhere to be seen.
"Only after the attack did they start patrolling."
Another witness said a large troop of baboons had in recent months been terrorising people at the resort, emptying refuse bins, stripping tents and cars of food and causing general mayhem.
"They show no fear of people. They unzip tents, rush in and take what they want."
Wayne Smith of Cape Town's Emergency Medical Services said the parents of the badly injured child had raced towards Gordon's Bay with the bleeding youngster in a bakkie.
Ambulances were dispatched from Gordon's Bay to meet them.
A rescue helicopter was also dispatched and landed on the R44 to fly the child to the Red Cross Children's Hospital.
The boy underwent an emergency operation soon after noon on Saturday and his condition was later described as stable by hospital spokesperson Diane Ross.
Baboons have in recent times been involved in many incidents both in the South Peninsula area as well in the Overberg, breaking into houses and at times harassing people for food.
There have been relatively minor physical attacks on people but Saturday's attack is apparently the most serious attack in recent years.
Craig Carutthers, a local resident, said that when he drove past the area soon after the attack there were still many baboons milling about.
Craig Spencer, Overstrand Nature Conservation officer, said it was time management authorities, conservation officials and other role players came together to come up with a strategy to deal with the baboons.
"It is not always the animals' fault. For instance, the refuse bins at Kogel Bay are of the old type and are not baboon-proof.
"Signs should also be placed all over the area to warn people about baboons and care should be taken not to come between the animals and their food source.
"We should launch an aggressive awareness programme and authorities and visitors should be made aware of the dangers the animals pose.
"Children should be closely supervised when such animals move into an area."