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THE INCREASE in baboon-human conflict in Scarborough recently prompted residents, re?presentatives from the UCT Baboon Research Unit as well as CapeNature officials to hold a public meeting to discuss the way forward.

In the meeting, residents raised concerns over the damage to pro?perty on a continuous basis, the frustration that the baboon monitor programme had not been run effectively, and the fear that the baboons might injure people.

Natasha Wilson, CapeNature's acting business unit manager, said that the reasons for the increased baboon raids include the recent striking of the baboon monitors, a fire in the village, as well as the onset of winter, which has resulted in less food sources for the baboons.

Wilson explained that the baboon monitor programme had been experiencing problems as the monitors were dissatisfied with their salaries and the general conditions of their employment.

Gail Cleaver, from CapeNature, said that the 22 monitors have now received a pay rise and are back at work.

"The major issue was that this is a poverty relief funded project and so the salaries are not very high. We had to explain to the monitors that there are rules and legislation controlled by poverty relief projects. We do not make the legislation."

Cleaver said they were currently hoping to recruit a few more monitors to help meet the increased demand.

"We had interviews on Friday, so hopefully we will have a couple more monitors soon," she said.

The bulk of the funding for the baboon monitoring programme comes from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism as well as from the City of Cape Town.

From this meeting, residents decided to set up a task team to assist in addressing the problem.

Graham Noble, chairperson of the Scarborough Ratepayers' Association, explained the purpose of this team. "At the moment there is a mismatch of what people are doing. If you are being responsible but your neighbour is leaving food or rubbish out, then you get a situation where you are moving one step forward and two back. The idea would then be to go talk to your neighbour and kindly persuade them to not do it."

Noble felt that a task team could also assist by helping the baboon monitors who are responsible for managing baboon-human contact and directing the baboons away when the need arises.

"Some people complain that the monitors are not doing their jobs or are ineffective. Instead of complai?ning, people could help out when the baboons are spotted in the village," he said.

Noble added that as long as the village was attractive as a food source, the situation would continue.

Jenni Trethowan of Baboon Matters agreed with Noble on the point of minimising the attraction. "Unfortunately, there is not one solution but a series of things that people have to do. The monitors can only be part of the solution. When it comes to minimising attractions within the village, people are ope?rating on a different page."

Trethowan said she was sympathetic to the frustrations of residents who have been affected. "I know what it is like to have things broken by the baboons. I would just like to encourage people to be adaptive. We heard that people were saying that William the Conqueror (well-known baboon) was able to open windows using his teeth. I am not sure whether he could be accurately identified, but one solution could be to spray something which tasted foul on the window. I would encourage people to try and out think him; to be proactive."

Noble also pointed out that some residents were resistant to taking certain preventative measures as a matter of principle.

"Some residents say that they are not prepared to live as if they are in a prison and will continue to keep fruit lying on their dining room table and have their windows open."

He said another challenge was the split in sentiment between residents, some of whom view the baboons as pests, while others accept that living in these areas requires a level of co-existence.

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