South African baboon evicted after raiding homes

South African baboon evicted after raiding homes

Kataza already had a lengthy rap sheet with Cape Town authorities so when he organised a band of others to raid a series of suburban homes, he was captured.

Now he sleeps at a prison, although there is a social media campaign for him to be returned to his old stomping ground.

Kataza is a baboon, one of a few hundred urban primates who live around Cape Town and are often a nuisance when they invade properties looking for food.

They knock over bins, steal fruit and vegetables from gardens, and generally cause trouble.

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Kataza sits outside the Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, where he sleeps at night (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

There are around 15 troops in the greater Cape Town area and something in the region of 500 baboons, according to experts.

The city even has a Baboon Technical Team – wildlife rangers chase baboons away from some neighbourhoods by shooting paintball guns at them.

The most persistently troublesome primates are sometimes euthanised.

Kataza operated in the seaside village of Kommetjie, on Cape Town’s southern peninsula.

After he was captured, rangers relocated him to the nearby area of Tokai, hoping he would integrate with another, better-behaved troop and stop his mischief.

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A banner calls for Kataza’s return to Kommetjie (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

“#BringBackKataza” reads a sign posted by a road in Kommetjie.

There is also a Facebook page calling for his safe return.

Jenni Trethowan, who runs Baboon Matters – a conservation organisation in Cape Town that seeks ways for humans and baboons to peacefully co-exist – said Kataza has been unfairly singled out.

She wants him back in Kommetjie.

“He’s no worse than any of the other baboons – he’s just an urban baboon,” Ms Trethowan said.

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Jenni Trethowan protects Kataza from traffic (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

He has not integrated with the Tokai troop, she said, is isolated and appears to be depressed.

Kataza now spends his days wandering through the streets of Tokai and his nights sleeping in the yard of a local prison.

“He lowers himself over the prison wall or just ambles through the gate,” she said.

Authorities keep what they call “rap sheets” that list a baboon’s misdemeanours – and Kataza’s was apparently extensive.

They had watched him since April, when he raided five occupied houses.

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Kataza has been accused of leading a band of baboons in raiding homes (Nardus Engelbrecht/AP)

“He generally solicited other individuals to join him in raiding town,” Kataza’s rap sheet says, according to a South African newspaper that viewed the document.

Ms Trethowan said the city is just blaming baboons for being baboons.

Instead, Cape Town should take measures to ease the problem and baboon-proof bins would help, she said.

“Baboons are criminalised for things that baboons do normally,” Ms Trethowan said.

“They are just opportunistic foragers.”

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