Conservation biologist and primatologist Dr David Gaynor has expressed disappointment that welfare organisations failed to seize an opportunity to save three baboon troops on the Cape Peninsula. According to Gaynor, the groups had the chance to fund fencing projects that could have kept 88 baboons wild. The fencing projects, estimated to cost R10-million, would have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach in mitigating baboon-human conflict.
The Cape Peninsula is home to several baboon troops, and the City of Cape Town has been working to manage the population. In 2026, the City, along with the Navy, the Cape Baboon Partnership, and other stakeholders, developed a plan to capture and relocate the baboons. However, Gaynor argues that this approach is not a long-term solution and that welfare organisations could have done more to help. He notes that the organisations had access to funding from donors specifically for saving wild animals in situations like this.
Gaynor has extensive experience working with baboons on the Cape Peninsula. He, along with Dr Ruth Kansky, authored the first individual-based census and management plan for Cape Peninsula baboons. Their two-year trial of monitors on the Slangkop and Da Gama Park troops formed the basis of the monitor programme. Gaynor has seen firsthand the effectiveness of baboon monitors in keeping the animals out of town and within designated areas.
The welfare organisations that could have potentially funded the fencing projects include Humane World for Animals South Africa, Animal Survival International, and the EMS Foundation. However, despite initial interest, the organisations ultimately did not come forward with a firm, funded offer to support the project. Gaynor estimates that a R50-million fund could have been set aside to back the work, and that the organisations could have approached the City with a joint proposal.
The failure to fund the fencing projects means that the three baboon troops will likely be captured and relocated. Gaynor argues that this approach has been tried before and has not been successful in the long term. He notes that more than 30 years after whole-troop removals from Kalk Bay, Chapman’s Peak, and the City Bowl, those areas still have no resident troops.
The removal of the baboons has significant implications for conservation efforts in the region. Gaynor notes that the baboons play an important role in the mountain ecosystem and that their loss could have long-term consequences. He also argues that the failure to fund the fencing projects sets a deadly precedent for future conservation efforts.
The opportunity to save the baboons has now passed, and Gaynor is left to wonder when welfare organisations will be able to work together to achieve conservation goals. He notes that money will still be spent on court cases, petitions, and campaigns, but that this could have been avoided if the organisations had worked together to fund the fencing projects.
Key points
- Welfare organisations failed to fund fencing projects that could have kept 88 baboons wild on the Cape Peninsula.
- The organisations had access to funding from donors specifically for saving wild animals in situations like this.
- The failure to fund the projects sets a deadly precedent for future conservation efforts.
