Photo by tedlington
With the 2010 World Cup fast approaching, chaos and crime are not the only worries in Cape Town. Hungry baboons are also causing concern.
Currently there are 17 groups totaling 420 baboons living in Cape Town’s outskirts. Lately, the increasingly bold baboons have been venturing into the city and raiding vehicles, easily opening car doors or swinging through windows to grab snacks.
Because tourists can’t seem to fight the temptation to feed the primates, baboons have learned to associate cars with food. The tourist boom expected to arrive with the 2010 World Cup will offer a whole new feeding ground for these animals.
Baboon dangers
Baboons can be aggressive, and it’s important not to encourage their behavior by offering them food. Some tour operators have been deliberately baiting the baboons, forcing the City of Cape Town to punish the practice with fines and possible prison sentences of up to six months.
The penalties may seem drastic, but residents of Cape Town are worried the animals will become more of a nuisance within the following months. The Baboon Files also points out that aggressive baboons already have to be shot be authorities.
Photo by Chi King
Don’t feed the animals!
If you’re taking a trip to Cape Town for the World Cup, remember to steer clear of the baboons. Here are some tips from The Baboon Files for avoiding primate problems:
-Close the windows and doors of your vehicle while on the road.
-Do not leave the vehicle to take photos of the baboons, as they may sneak into your car while your back is turned.
-Baboons are not easily frightened by people. Do not stand in the open while carrying food, as baboons will snatch anything from your hands.
-While hiking or walking around, hide all food until safely inside a building or vehicle. Even carrying the food in a plastic bag will prove too tempting for a hungry critter.
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8 Comments... join the discussion!
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Hahahahaha.
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I couldn’t agree more. There is this unexplained fascination for us humans to feed wild animals. I don’t understand it. You want to feed a bear, monkey, or killer shark, go to an animal park where the animals are used to it, not to mention dependent on it.
Feeding animals in the wild not only harms the future behaviors of the species, but you’re also ruining experiences for future tourists (not to mention locals!)
By enjoying the 2 seconds it takes to give a baboon some doritos, the baboon only learns to seek food from humans, diminishing his chances on survival and causing problems for future baboons and human-guests in said region.
Observe from a distance people. Sharing is not caring in these situations.
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Oh my God. This is TERRIFYING.
If they don’t end up moving some of them, supposedly the Cape Town authorities are talking about a cull (this came before the World Cup was an issue).
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A CULL?! Oh wow. PETA’s gonna be all over that.
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I was in Cape Town over the holidays and while I didn’t see any baboons in the city, I did see a lot on the roads just outside. At one point my husband (who was trying to learn to drive a manual car on the left side of the road) came around a corner and almost ran into a group of cars that had stopped, some in the middle of the road, to take photos of a large group of baboons that was lounging in and around the road. People were hanging out of their cars snapping pics, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them fed the animals.
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One of my favorite things about driving around that part of the RSA are the giant exclamation signs with “Baboons” written underneath
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