Cape Town city officials have announced plans to “imminently” capture two troops of chacma baboons involved in frequent conflicts with residents. The animals are set to be sterilized and permanently relocated to a newly established sanctuary. This move has sparked fierce opposition from animal rights activists, who argue that the monkeys should be allowed to roam freely and that alternative, less intrusive management strategies have been overlooked. Who say the monkeys should remain roaming freely, and that less destructive options have not been properly considered, the plan has been fiercely criticised by animal rights activists. Residents can no longer barbecue or host garden parties for fear of the marauding baboons.
Tensions surrounding the city’s baboon population have been mounting since the 2000s, following the cessation of culling programs in the late 1990s due to public outcry. The situation reached a critical stage over the last two years. A 2025 census revealed that the population has surged by one-third since 2000, rising from 360 to 493 individuals, currently organized into 12 managed troops. But in the past two years it has reached boiling point.
Driven by this population increase, the chacma baboons are regularly venturing into urban areas on the Cape Peninsula. They have been documented ripping off roofing, entering unlocked vehicles, and raiding food pantries. In neighborhoods like Simon’s Town, the animals are increasingly active, even infiltrating homes and convenience stores late at night, making routine activities like outdoor barbecues impossible for local residents.
Justin O’Riain, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Cape Town, noted the severe impact on the community, stating that property values have suffered because residents find it difficult to sell homes frequently defaced by baboon faeces and paw prints. O’Riain warned that while harming baboons is unacceptable, the frustration among residents is rising, leading to dangerous vigilante actions. He cited a recent incident where a baboon was shot through the chest, emphasizing that the current strategy results in poor outcomes for both animal welfare and human quality of life.
The city’s geography exacerbates the issue, as the Cape Peninsula forces baboons into a narrow corridor between Table Mountain national park and dense urban development. Joselyn Mormile, who leads the Cape Baboon Partnership (CBP), explained that baboons possess a natural drive to seek out low-lying land, which offers better water access and more productive vegetation—areas that have largely been occupied by human development. The baboons have proved an especially divisive – and expensive – issue.
The management program currently requires an investment of approximately 20 million rand (£920,000) every 18 months, utilizing full-time rangers to monitor troops. While the initial 2025 plan proposed relocating four troops, it was revised to give two northern peninsula troops the opportunity to adapt to their existing environment. In addition to moving the Waterfall and Seaforth troops, the city intends to erect a baboon-proof northern boundary fence. That was revised, Mormile said, to give two other troops living in the northern section of the peninsula “the benefit of the doubt to see if they can adjust in that remaining space … We believe that they could settle quite nicely.”. Cape Town’s baboon management programme costs about 20m rand for 18 months (£920,000), with full-time rangers watching over most of the troops to try to head off any trouble.
Critics, including various activists and scientists, contend that the city should prioritize exclusion fencing over the removal of the animals. They argue that relocation causes significant social disruption and long-term psychological stress for the baboons, which play a vital ecological role as seed dispersers. O’Riain remains skeptical of the fencing approach, suggesting that without sufficient food resources behind the barriers, the baboons will likely migrate to the next available low-lying area, leaving the city in the same position a decade from now.
