In a recent letter to Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) highlighted a number of its concerns regarding the City of Cape Town’s (CoCT) protocols in its management of baboons in the Cape Peninsula. The multi-faith NGO says that in recent years, members of the public have raised the alarm over aggressive baboon … [Read more...]
Why southern Africa’s iconic baboon is on the decline
Southern Africans have a love-hate relationship with chacma baboons. They have an unmistakable presence on the landscape, but their reputation as notorious troublemakers makes them unpopular. Lethal removal is common throughout their range; humans are the principal cause of the population decline. The people of southern Africa associate the infamous primates with home, even … [Read more...]
10 years of recycling success at Cape cycling race
Cyclers and spectators are dropping less waste! This was discovered this month during the annual Cape Town Cycle Tour. Two teams of clean-up crews recruited from local townships near Ocean View ensured that it was collected for recycling at various water and spectator points, the start and the finish, hospitality part, and refreshment points. The race also saw the … [Read more...]
Stop baboon killings in the Cape
In 1998 the Chacma Baboons of the Cape Peninsula gained protective status. This status is now being overlooked with regards to repeat raiders and dispersing males, who are trying to leave the peninsula to join troops further inland. The city sprawl prevents them from following their natural route, and as a result they get stuck in the suburbs. According to global civic … [Read more...]
‘Eco-label’ Allows Killing of Wild Baboons
By not supporting a moratorium on the on-going trapping and shooting of baboons in FSC-certified timber plantations in South Africa, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International seems to place economic interests above ecological values. In response to a formal complaint lodged by GeaSphere, an environmental pressure group based in the Mpumalanga province of South … [Read more...]
Stop killing baboons in Mpumalanga
The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) in Forests to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. Furthermore, one of the declared goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which has 195 member states, as stated in their official 'Forest Biodiversity Program of Work' is to 'Restore forest … [Read more...]
No more mountain baboon killings!
The environmental pressure group GeaSphere submitted a formal complaint to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on Tuesday, 11 January 2011. At least 1,914 baboons had been removed by a controversial 'trap and shoot' method by FSC Certified plantation companies during the past two years. Most of the affected troops were from the Sabie, Graskop and Blyde River areas in … [Read more...]
Can we leave space for our wild neighbours?
'And if Baboons could write, what book would they publish on the ways of mankind, and what would they then decide, beast or blessing?' Noel Ashton: whale artist, conservationist and co-founder of Baboon Matters Trust. What indeed are the baboons of William's troop thinking? By now they must know that William, a charismatic male of the Scarborough Troop, a mate, a father and … [Read more...]
City to cull cape town’s baboons
According to a new protocol baboons can be shot for minor misdemeanours in suburbs around the Peninsula. Jenni Trethowan of Baboon Matters lost the contract to manage the Baboon Monitor Project started 11 years ago to protect the last remaining Chacma baboons of the Cape Peninsula. In 1998 the baboons gained protective status through her efforts. The Monitor Project has … [Read more...]
Robbed of bees
'Honey has been waiting for almost ten million years for a good biography. Essential to the food, drink, religion, economics, medicine and arts of every civilization since the Egyptians, honey - and the bees that make it - have been a vital part of the human record for millennia.' This is the back cover blurb for Holley Bishop's book, Robbing the Bees, published in 2005. … [Read more...]
