Oh Those Nasty Baboon Wars

January 27, 2012
Cape Town Baboon Wars Continue - 8

by Gayne C. Young
A baboon was found dead last Wednesday in the Da Gama Park section of the Western Cape’s capital city. The City of Cape Town veterinarian Dr. Elzette Jordan told the Daily News that the vermin died from a fatal airgun shot to the head. Although Jordan said “The animal was shot at close range,” the death was not believed to be a suicide. Rather, it is believed a human shot the one-year-old primate.

This is just one more incident in the on-going war Cape Town residents are waging against baboons. Despite the fact that harming the (what are basically) coyotes with opposable thumbs is illegal, many residents have taken the law into their own hands when they feel threatened or find their property destroyed.

The most recent example of this Dirty Harry on apes mentality occurred in November when Fish Hoek resident Louis Goosen was charged with shooting a baboon that he said attacked him and his wife. Evidence of how many times that baboon had come in contact with aggravated humans was displayed by the almost 100 foreign objects found in the monkey’s body by local vets.