Baboon Management Overstrand

Publicly available monthly reports are produced about the baboon management project. These contain raiding activity and out of town records of the baboon troops in Hermanus (Voelklip Troop) and Pringle Bay (Pringle Bay Troop), as well as a breakdown of hotline calls for the month. In addition to this, monthly, seasonal and daily trends of baboon behaviour are reported on.

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This monthly report covers the period from 1 to 30 June 2020.  Management of the Voëlklip Troop in Hermanus and the Pringle Bay Troop are discussed.  During this month the use of Virtual Fence continued as the primary method of managing the Voëlklip Troop, but paintball markers still continued to be used for backup.  Management of the Pringle Bay Troop continued through the use of paintball markers only.  The Voëlklip Troop’s time out of town was 97.9% in June.

The Vogelgat Troop showed a decreased presence in the urban environment during this month, with a corresponding decrease in the number of hotline calls. The troop continued to raid in the eastern avenues of Hermanus, with the majority of reports to the hotline highlighting individuals in town, rather than the entire troop.  HWS is currently not mandated to manage this troop, but when resources allow (when the Voëlklip Troop is out of town), the baboon rangers assist in moving them back to their natural environment. By providing this additional assistance to this troop, HWS is attempting to prevent individuals from learning bad raiding behaviours from each other.

The Pringle Bay Troop continued its May pattern of predominantly sleeping at the Professor Sleep Site, utilizing this site for 48% of the time in June.  This sleep site, in particular, provided the baboons with very easy access to the urban environment.  As a result, the baboons often raided town during times when the rangers were not on duty (early mornings and late evenings).  The Hangklip Troop moved north again this month, overlapping into the Pringle Bay Troop’s home range.  This had the effect of pushing the Pringle Bay Troop into town.  The combined effect of this, and the baboons sleeping close to town, resulted in the Pringle Bay Troop’s percentage time out of town decreased from 91.5% in May to 88.0% in June.