Residents in the South Peninsula have started a petition to have Cape Nature investigated, after a hunting permit was issued to allegedly kill the Plateau troop alpha male baboon last month.
The petition started by Lynne Holmes calls for an audit into the decision process in which a permit was granted to have the baboon professionally hunted and killed.
By Thursday 4 August, more than 4 000 signatures were reached.
“Some of you may have heard of the so called ‘humane euthanizing’ of Julius, the alpha male of the small Plateau Road troop in Cape Point, but the truth is really something else.
“Cape Nature claims to promote and ensure nature conservation and related matters in the province, yet they gave the permit to allow this alpha male not to be humanely put to sleep with an injection, but hunted and shot.
“For those who have no conscience, hunting an alpha baboon is a great trophy, it is not an easy task, and Julius would have suffered for sure, terribly!
“He leaves a small troop devastated and leaderless as there are no mature males in the troop ready to take his place. The troop wonders around for weeks on end looking for their leader, scared and at risk. The integrity of the troop is destroyed.”
The petition called for a full audit and investigation into the process that was followed.
“This cannot be undone, but one thing we can do, is call for a full audit and investigation into the members of Cape Nature and the processes followed that led to this tragedy, with a call for real custodians of our nature reserves, who will not indulge the whims of powerful, narcissistic individuals and who understand the big picture.
“If they don’t care about nature and the baboons then at least they will consider the economy that relies on tourism to the amount of R15 billion a year in the Western Cape alone, which will definitely be impacted on if this news goes global. Our wildlife plays a significant role in the attraction of tourists.”
Last week, Cape Nature confirmed that a hunting permit was issued to hunt the alpha male.
Cape Nature spokesperson Petro van Rhyn said a hunting permit for a Damage Causing Animal (DCA) was issued.
“In short, a DCA application is evaluated using a guideline which weighs the activity and behavior of the DCA (i.e. level of damage causing / raiding, frequency of the behaviour, severity of the behaviour (i.e. does it involve interaction with humans, breaking into homes, breaking into occupied homes etc.) and the time span of the raiding (i.e. over, days, weeks or months etc.) vs the mitigation measures taken by the landowner to repel, exclude and / or deter the behaviour and access and occupation to their land (this can include fencing, burglar bars, closed windows, removal of attractants etc.).
“Based on this evaluation and criteria, a determination of further action is made, which could include a permit to hunt. A professional hunter was appointed by the landowner.”
