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FINES TO BE ISSUED

I should have thought the warning that I came across while researching for our first trip to Cape Town last year would deter most people, if the welfare of the baboons didn't concern them!

"Monkeyjacking Warning
In the areas around Cape Point you'll notice road signs telling you not to feed the baboons. This is to protect you as well as them. Baboons are capable of getting inside your car, forcing you out, and using the car as a toilet."

And they are not considerate toilet users by any means

At a camp a long time ago baboons came in and stole some biscuits and bananas, THEY ARE NOT TO BE MESSED WITH!

Front page of this morning's Cape Times has pics of baboons trying the door handles of a car. they now know how to get in. Keep the doors locked.

And then then there is this story

That is the gist of the article I saw arks.

I am disappointed by the rubbish sensationalism it starts with.

"Baboons run amok in Cape Town." Miller's point is about 50 km from central CT and is a non built up area, beyond the last urban part on the way to Cape Point. It gives the impression the baboons are in the city. Tripe.

Jeez, BB, I didn't read it that way.

But then, I know where Miller's Point is. And I also know that such far-flung places as Atlantis (and even Darling!) are somehow considered part of "greater" Cape Town. Thus, I don't think that the article — or even the headline — intends to imply that baboons are a threat in central CT.

However, visitors who are not aware of "greater" CT, should know that baboons can — and do — pose problems even in fairly built-up suburban areas in the Cape. And not only in places that are directly adjacent to bush areas. Baboons have learned that foraging in suburban rubbish bins is far easier (and more rewarding) than foraging in the wild. (We have similar problems with black bears in many parts of New England.)

OMG, I wouldn't go anywhere near those baboons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6E6uK2Q ... re=related

You are a well seasoned Cape visitor arks, and nearly part of the furniture, but a lot of foreigners still think that the animals scatter off the runway when their plane touches down.

Statement by TMNP on baboon matters in the Peninsula

From Sanparks:

Manage your rubbish and ensure that baboons won’t be able to access it.
Keep doors and windows closed.
Make sure there are no fruit trees on your property.
Appropriate electric fencing is key

Then there are the municipal bylaws that restrictes the kind of boundary walls and electric fencing that are actually 'prescribed' by Sanparks.

Seems like humans are now in the middle of this thing and trapped inside their own house (property must not allow for fruit trees or similar).

I like this one - we encroached on their ancestral land and they are now taking it back!!!