Cape Town wants residents to complete online survey about baboons

The City of Cape Town is asking residents in neighbourhoods affected by baboons to complete an online questionnaire related to the animals.

The survey is part of research meant to minimise contact between residents and chacma baboons in Cape Town.

“We encourage residents who live in areas close to the baboons’ natural environment, and may be affected or encounter baboons, to please complete the questionnaire,” the City said in a statement.

“The feedback we receive through the questionnaire will provide us with valuable information and insight and will be considered when making improvements to the City’s Urban Baboon Programme.”

The survey asks residents about encounters with the animals.

It also asks about views on whether baboons are wild animals and if they should stay away from people.

The survey will be available until 8 March. You can find it here.

The survey comes alongside the relocation of a “problem” baboon Kataza. The baboon made headlines at the end of 202o and the beginning of 2021.

It brought the City’s management of baboons in Cape Town into stark focus.

Also a chacma baboon, the SPCA Kataza was relocated to Limpopo in January.

Feature image: Joachim Huber/Wikimedia Commons

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