Fred’s euthanasia was a carfeul consideration of danger to the public and mitigating factors Understanding why the new protocol is an improvement Before the current protocol was compiled, a management policy (Brownlie 2000) for raiding baboons was already in place. This policy was devised by the authorities in conjunction with civic, scientific (Kansky & Gaynor) [...]
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who has written 17 posts for BRU Blog.
May
19
2011
19
2011
May
19
2011
19
2011
Letter from an Activist: Protocols
Response by Associate Professor Justin O’Riain (BRU, UCT) to open letter by Jenni Trethowan (JT) of Baboon Matters (17th May 2011) 1. JT: “Dr. O’Riain quotes ‘three baboons killed in ten years (<1% of total population)’. This is misleading in the extreme as the true facts are that the three male baboons in question were [...]
May
10
2011
10
2011
‘Feeding stations’: an answer to conflict?
Baboons foraging in human areas leads to highly undesirable consequences A question that is being asked of baboon management on a regular basis is whether using feeding stations (or provisioning) can be used to draw baboons away from human areas, where humans and baboons often conflict with one another. In this post we address the [...]
Feb
24
2010
24
2010
‘Baboon pushes man to death’: an avoidable tragedy
This post has been written to address the incident that occurred at Happy Valley Home in Simon’s Town on the 28th of January. According to a variety of reports, Happy Valley resident, Michael Bates was pushed off a ramp by a fleeing baboon near the men’s dormitory. Three days later, Bates, already an ill man, [...]
Dec
14
2009
14
2009
Inside Scoop: BRU & Monitoring in Simon’s Town
The Great Primate Handshake team have posted two more interesting videos that explain the processes followed, progress made and complications of managing and conserving baboons in the Cape Peninsula. The first video features the ever-competent Tali Hoffman who gives a brief introduction to BRU and some of the work that we’re undertaking, while the second video [...]
Dec
7
2009
7
2009
Getting Smart on Bart: video link
The link below will take you to an interesting video about Bart made by the Great Primate Handshake team of 2009. The video excellently portrays the complexities of managing dispersing male baboons, and contains some superb footage of Bart on his university visits. One point of clarity, as it is not explained in the video, is that the [...]
Nov
26
2009
26
2009
Human/wildlife overlap: is there a health risk?
In our previous blog posts we discussed some of the issues arising from the increasing levels of contact between baboons and humans in the Cape Peninsula. This week we focus on a problem associated with inter-species interactions that is gaining coverage in many areas across the world: health hazards. Health risks linked to human/wildlife overlap [...]
Nov
3
2009
3
2009
Collars for Conservation
The enormous improvements made to tracking technology over recent decades have meant that anyone can track their stolen car, missing pet or lost grandmother from any location in the world. These tracking devices are so useful and provide such high quality spatial information, that they are currently being used to study the behaviour, movement patterns, home [...]
Oct
22
2009
22
2009
Does the BMT have a ‘culling protocol’ for Peninsula baboons?
Culling is a term that most of us have heard, probably in connection with management of elephants in the Kruger National Park, or perhaps even badgers in the United Kingdom. This management practice has been the subject of a great deal of heated debate during the course of the last few decades because central to [...]
Oct
14
2009
14
2009
Translocation: panacea or pitfall?
In the last few weeks, the word ‘translocation’ has been flying across the press, into the realm of public debate and landing in the homes of many people. But why is this? Well, it probably has a lot to do with the recently revised management protocol concerning dispersing Chacma baboon males in the Cape Peninsula (see ‘Getting [...]