From Urban National Parks to Natured Cities in the Global South by Frédéric Landy

Author:Frédéric Landy
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9789811084621
Publisher: Springer Singapore

Baboons and Relocation in South Africa

In Tijuca park in Rio de Janeiro, agoutis and then howler monkeys have been reintroduced since 2010, but these animals remain scarce in a park that is otherwise devoid of large mammals. Table Mountain National Park offers a more interesting comparison with the Kenyan and Indian cases. It differs from the parks in Nairobi and Mumbai in that it does not form a single block, but several sections, each separated by road arteries or residential areas. It is also distinctive in being the country’s only park that is not fenced, though paradoxically it directly borders the city, either via residential neighbourhoods or the edges of the city center itself.

This park contains neither leopards, nor any other predator that is really dangerous to human populations. It is home to a few caracals (Caracal caracal), but these cats are particularly discreet, not very wild, and too small to present a real danger to human beings. Large bovidaes (e.g., eland, bubal, etc.) and zebras populate the most southern part of the park, in the Cape of Good Hope section, but this zone is uninhabited and fenced. In the rest of the park, the most problematic and potentially dangerous species is the Cape Baboon (Papio ursinus), the largest of the baboon species, which can weigh up to 45 kg. While these monkeys do not present a direct threat to human beings, they can become very aggressive when attracted by food, not hesitating to enter cars or houses, or to make incursions into the Constantia vineyards which border the eastern edge of the park, causing very significant economic damage. These protected animals, now free of predators since the local disappearance of the leopard, have in fact become too numerous (around 400 on the peninsula): a degree of food pressure is therefore pushing them towards the city and resources that are fairly accessible, especially as the disappearance of pine trees has deprived them of a food source (pine nuts) and a habitat (they often lived in the trees). Tour operators and visitors want to have baboons close to roads, whereas at the same time, for safety reasons attempts are made to keep baboons out of the main visited areas: these animals are both an attraction for tourism and a threat to it.

Despite the means available to local authorities, this animal control problem is not being adequately managed. There is a baboon management plan that involves the city, the park and the regional Nature Conservation Department (CapeNature), but this focuses on problem individuals (which may be frightened off, relocated or euthanised, depending on the circumstances) and offers no strategic solution. In particular, there is no urban edge policy. None of the simple measures that exist to limit baboon incursions into inhabited areas is applied locally. The construction of fences along the houses at the edge of the park, and the use of baboon-proof waste bins, are neither funded nor compulsory. Apart from the case of the baboons, there are no policies for managing the park’s ecological boundaries (see Chap.

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