This monthly report covers the period from 1 to 30 April 2020. During this month, the country was under strict nationwide COVID-19 lockdown regulations. This however, had a positive effect on baboon management, particularly for the troops in the northern region, due to less human activity (and therefore attractants) in the area, such as at Chrysalis Academy, Porter Estate and Tokai Plantation.
All the northern troops and individuals remained out of town for 100% of the time, except for two incidents during which, individuals from the Tokai Troop accessed Zwaanswyk through a hole in the electric fence, still only resulting in an individual time out of town for Tokai of 99.7%. There were no raiding incidents reported in the North. In addition, Constantia 1 and Constantia 2 Troops have been moving together since 22 April 2020 and it is possible that they may rejoin and form one troop again. These two troops split apart in 2015 after the huge fires.
In the South, the Slangkop Troop continued to remain difficult to manage, recording a second month of a low percentage of time out of town for the troop (75.5%). This was also evident in the high number of hotline calls (57) received from Kommetjie this month. There remain several challenges within Kommetjie, which include residents feeding baboons, numerous fruit trees, accessible vegetable gardens and easy access to open houses.
All of these factors were probably increased because of the greater number of people at home during the lockdown. On a positive note, the Da Gama individuals time out of town increased from 86.6% in March to 93.8% in April, and therefore spent half the amount of time in town compared to the previous month.
