[imagesource: Alan van Gysen]

It’s not often that the plight of a single baboon causes such uproar, but there is clearly something about Kataza (pictured above, in Silvermine Reserve) that resonates with people.

We have covered Kataza’s story before – here and here – with our last post featuring further unsuccessful efforts to bring the male baboon back to Kommetjie, so that he may be reunited with his troop.

The story has continued to gather steam, with international media outlets taking notice and a Facebook group called Bring Kataza Back providing regular updates, but we’ll focus on a great wrap of sorts by the Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis.

Kataza, or Nkatazo to the rangers (isiXhosa for “trouble”), or SK11 in official documents, has been on the radar of the city’s baboon monitors for a while, but the decision to relocate him to Tokai has led to a hostile debate between animal rights activists and City of Cape Town officials and scientists.

Jenni Trethowan, the founder of an activist group called Baboon Matters, speaks of the 42 members of the Slangkop Troop as if they are her close friends. She describes baboons as her “soul food”.

It is largely thanks to the efforts of Trethowan and her supporters that Kataza has been painted as a loveable rogue; a daring baboon revolutionary, constantly outwitting the City of Cape Town-appointed rangers employed to keep him out of urban areas. A guerilla, if you will.

To the scientists responsible for devising Cape Town’s baboon management policies, Kataza is a headache – and his human admirers even more so.

On the other side of the table from Jenni are people like UCT’s ecologist Professor Justin O’Riain, and Dr Phil Richardson (from Human Wildlife Solutions, or HWS, which manages Cape Town’s baboons on behalf of the city), who argue that Kataza has formed a splinter group.

If the city is forced to monitor two separate groups, the cost of the program increases significantly, and officials also point to Kataza’s fondness for “raiding homes”.

According to Julia Wood, the Biodiversity Manager from the City of Cape Town, the program kills “about seven” baboons a year through euthanasia, as it is “a danger to the public to have them in urban areas”.

What does Dr. Jane Goodall, “the grand dame of primatology”, have to do with this? As recently as last month, she criticised the use of “unnecessarily hostile tactics” in baboon management in the Western Cape, with rangers and officials using paintball guns to keep the baboons in check.

Earlier this week, in an interview with CapeTalk’s Kieno Kammies, Dr. Anthony Collins, a primatologist and researcher at the Jane Goodall Institute, also weighed in.

Some of his quotes from the interview below:

If baboons are thieves, it’s because they’ve been taught to be thieves…

We leave doors open, we leave food lying around and it’s the baboons who pay the price because we are teaching them to be thieves…

The logic is that we live in the baboon’s place, you can’t blame them if they are clever and opportunistic… It’s a question of people learning not to give them a chance.

At this stage, Kataza has managed to dodge one bullet, with HWS having applied to euthanise him before the decision was reversed, and now HWS says he is integrating well with the troop that is often seen around Tokai.

You can listen to the full CapeTalk interview here.

According to the latest update on the Bring Kataza Back page, HWS claims of integration aren’t exactly true:

Whilst authorities report Kataza as having favourable encounters with other baboons, people on the ground report that Kataza has had run ins with the resident males and in encounters even with juveniles has been witnessed soon either running from the adult males or being chased by them. There has reportedly been at least one fight with other males. There are also reports thatKataza is very tired, concerninglyso; after several days of running so much his strength now appears low.

Although monitored from a distance during the day, Kataza is alone and sleeping alone, most often in urban area where it seems he feels safer than around the local baboons. Even during the day he is sometimes high in a tree to safely ftsurvey.

Having spent more nights on the roof of Pollsmoor maximum security prison, Kataza is still crossing roads a lot in this intensely urban area. HWS have been pressured to better manage traffic to take pressure off the public and I am told they have more staff in attendance to facilitate this.

Whilst the efforts of HWS have come under increased scrutiny, there are those who point to the monitoring program as an overwhelming success story.

UCT’s Professor Justin O’Riain speaking below:

[He] points out that independent studies have repeatedly shown that Cape Town’s baboon management project has resulted in “a growing population with improved welfare and communities with far less damage”.

He says that since HWS took over baboon management, the percentage of baboon deaths linked to humans has dropped from 52% in 2008 to 14%. What proved most effective at keeping baboons out of urban areas and therefore safe: paintball guns.

Whilst different arguments are being out forward from the many interested parties, Kataza remains separated from his troop.

It’s worth reading the entire Daily Maverick article, which includes further comments from various parties.

As things stand, Kataza’s story seems to be far from over.

[sources:dailymaverick&capetalk&facebook]