Facts about Fred Baboon – Letter by Jenni Trethowan of Baboon Matters to:
The Baboon Operational Group including:
Table Mountain National Park, City Of Cape Town, CapeNature, Baboon Research Unit, Baboon Liaison Group
Dear Sir, I am writing to query the validity of the recent decision to euthanase the male baboon known as Fred.
As you are all undoubtedly aware, it is well known that many baboons learn by imitating each other – the younger ones watch the older, experienced baboons and often learn to emulate behaviour – particularly if it is has benefit. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that the conditions that may lead to problematic behaviour have been properly solved – otherwise there may well be a perpetual cycle of behaviour patterns being repeated; have areas of concern that led to Fred’s demise been adequately addressed?
In addition to the above, are concerns as to how the protocol has been followed? In reviewing the process – and particularly the mitigating circumstances – I have doubts that due considerations were taken.
Please could you answer the following points:
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Alpha Male status.
It has been stated that Fred was no longer the alpha male of the Millers Point troop. Please could you confirm whether specific “dominance matrix” studies had been undertaken to ascertain this important piece of information. In the absence of such specific studies, deciding who the alpha male is would be entirely speculative.
If the case is open to speculation then surely you should be reliant on the person who has the most field experience of that individual male as well as his interactions with his troop for input. If this were to be the case then Mark Duffle’s observations would hold the most relevance as he spends the greater part of each day observing and working with the Millers Point troop.
In Mr. Duffels’ opinion, Fred was most certainly the dominant male – based on the following facts:
- Fred dominated food opportunity –including (as widely agreed) food from vehicles.
- The majority of the troop followed Fred
- Jimmy, an adult male of the Millers Point Troop has been mentioned as a potential alpha male yet he frequently leaves the troop for extended periods to raid into urban areas.
Unless there is quantitative scientific proof to show that Mark’s observations are inaccurate, we must accept that Fred was still the alpha male, and in terms of the protocol for individual raiding males, he should not have been euthanased.
2. Municipal and Commercial Waste
The uncontained waste at the Millers Point Ski Boat Club, in particular, is an on-going source of easily obtainable food. Although I have seen the statements whereby it was argued that it was not the waste that caused a problem with regards to Fred, rather that the problem was specific to raiding from vehicles; I do not accept this as I believe that the proximity of the waste in relation to the on-going vehicles stopping along the scenic route were a collective attraction and combined source of easy food – I do not believe it is accurate to separate the two issues.
In his letter to STEAC of 24.03.11, Prof. O’Riain makes the point that the stretch of road in which most incidents occur is a mere 1km – within this 1km is the ski boat club, caravan park and their relevant waste – none of which is secure from baboons – there are no baboon proof bins, nor baboon proof cages for waste in the area.
It is my contention that the volumes of food found in the waste at the ski boat club and caravan park provide a great attraction to the baboons and are a huge reward that undoubtedly keep the baboons in that contained area.
In any event, in terms of the Protocol for individual raiding baboons, it is specific – if there is no baboon proofing of authorities waste or commercial waste this should be considered as mitigating factors. There is clearly no baboon proofing evident.
I have been writing letters to both TMNP and City of Cape Town about this specific issue since 2008; had the area been baboon proofed and waste contained, there would be no case for mitigation, but as the waste is still so easily available to the baboons it is my belief that it was erroneous to kill Fred. The City of Cape Town and Table Mountain National Park do themselves (and the general public) a disservice by not providing proper waste management in this area as but not doing so they have:
- Left the door open to the contention that lack of baboon proofing of waste is a reasonable reason for the behaviour of the Millers Point troop, causing them to remain in an area where they are securing easily obtained foods.
- Created an environmental problem for not only baboon management, but also for the marine protected reserve of Millers point, as it has been seen and reported that the unmanaged waste blows into the sea and contaminates the inter-tidal zone.
- Created an apparent precedent – the message being obvious to all those who use the site, “It is not necessary to baboon proof waste”. This urgently needs to be resolved and improved as a priority.
3. Monitoring
Although there were monitors working with the Miller Point troop, it seems fair comment that there was consensus amongst decision makers that the monitors had been ineffectual for the best part of one year:
- according to Prof. O’Riain in his letter to STEAC 24.03.11 “and the monitors are powerless to stop him as he simply attacks and displaces them (for the last year)”
- From Dr. E. Jordan as quoted in the Peoples Post: “She explains that the NCC monitors were “scared” of Fred. “You cannot reclaim your territory if you are scared of the animal”
What steps had been taken to remedy the ineffective monitors? Had any training been given to the monitors? Had different, more experienced monitors been deployed to that area to deal with a known to be difficult situation?
It must be noted that the Black Marlin restaurant, which is in the midst of the Miller Point 1km raiding zone has experienced a remarkable drop off in raids since employing just one effective baboon monitor – Mark Duffle. The fact that Mark can single-handedly manage the troop and keep them away from the restaurant, and not be “attacked” by as Prof. O’Riain describes above, demonstrates clearly that the baboon was not so much the problem as the ineffective monitors are.
If none of the above actions had been implemented to improve the monitoring, which was known to be problematic for at least one year, then it was not acceptable to kill Fred.
4. Law Enforcement
It is widely acknowledged that law enforcement remains a huge problem and that – to date – few (if any) people have been prosecuted for feeding baboons along this scenic route.
In his email of 27.03.11, Dr. Noble acknowledges the problem “There has been talk and also lots of volunteer action for more than two years. But no law enforcement….”
In my own experience, I have encouraged people who have witnessed the feeding of baboons to lay charges, and in all cases it has been CapeNature who has been the stumbling block – refusing to prosecute specific cases (for numerous reasons), with the overall result been a complete lack of law enforcement. Although CapeNature proudly announced new, improved laws regarding the feeding of baboons; if the new law remains unenforced as the previous one had been, it will remain just another piece of ineffectual legislation.
It is an interesting – if somewhat ironic – point to note, that under the new law regarding feeding of baboons, both the City of Cape Town and the Table Mountain National Park should be fined by CapeNature for feeding baboons on their property.
5. Complaints
It is unclear who monitored the numbers of attacks attributed to Fred and who compiled the case history, the current service provider would have limited input as the monitors are not always present, so who would have taken overall responsibility for collating the case history?
By all accounts, the BLG have had talked about the case, but have yet to see the case history – Dr. Noble’s email of 27.03.11 “….By the BLG meeting on 16 March nothing had been done and we asked again. And again when we heard on the 23rd (I think) that WAC had made a recommendation. The BLG still hasn’t seen the documentation.” It is noteworthy that without having ever seen the dossier or case study, the majority of BLG still took a majority vote to accept the WAC decision – surely a flawed process.
In the People’s Post 29.03.11, Dr. Elette Jordan reports that the “city received one affidavit to testify about Fred’s aggressive behaviour”. If, indeed, it took just one affidavit to secure Fred’s death warrant this is completely untenable. Further, it is unacceptable that the case history was not available for comment and input prior to Fred’s death. It remains unclear as to why the Operational Committee remain so clandestine in their duties.
All parties contributing to decisions regarding baboon management should be transparent with the decisions made regarding all aspects of baboon management and should be prepared to withstand public scrutiny – this is clearly not the case as to date three males have been killed without informing the residents or public of their reasons and intention to undertake such drastic actions. Minimal information pertaining to the deaths of Sol, William and now Fred have only emerged after the baboons had been killed.
Conclusion
It is completely unacceptable that a baboon pays the price (with his life) for the misdemeanours of humans. We have trained baboons to take food from humans for the past eighty years – anecdotal evidence from the 1930’s shows that people have been feeding baboons at the Millers Point scenic route for this extended period of time. The authorities have not provided adequate baboon proof bins or waste management, they have not provided law enforcement and they acknowledge that the provided monitors were ineffectual. Advice from known experts was not sought and there was once again a complete lack of transparency in relaying planned “corrective strategies” to the residents and general public.
Baboon Matters Trust is demanding that any further euthanasing of individual raiding baboons be immediately suspended until such time as our concerns regarding the death of Fred have been adequately addressed, and until such time as the authorities are doing everything in their power to ensure all mitigating circumstances have been properly dealt with.
We draw attention to the complete lack of transparency from the Operational Group and the Baboon Liaison Group in dealing with members of the general public and request that, with immediate effect, minutes of every meeting are made available to the public within one week of meetings – this is to include prior warning, motivation and substantive facts in the event that any further baboons are to be killed.
I look forward to your urgent response to the concerns raised in this letter.
Regards
Jenni Trethowan of Baboon Matters Trust 29 March 2011.
1 Comment
Jenni, April 13, 2011 at 11:13 pm
11 April 2011.
Dear Sir;
I refer to the article in the Weekend Argus 9 April 2011 “Regrettable decision to kill Fred the baboon…”, written by Dr. E. Jordan on behalf of the Baboon Operational Team (a group comprising City of Cape Town, CapeNature and Table Mountain National Park who get input from the Baboon Research Unit of Cape Town):
If the Baboon Ops Team was a participant in the popular television show “Dancing with the Stars”, I am sure that the judges would rate them highly for their fancy footwork and skilful manoeuvres as they make for glittering entertainment value.
In the first “flip around the floor” the Ops Team dances around the issue as to how baboons learn behaviour – completely ignoring the fact that other baboons have been seen opening car doors and taking over where Fred left off. The next steps are rather elaborate and result in a tangled flurry as Fred’s alpha status is first acknowledged (“who charged anyone who thwarted his efforts”), then a bit indecisive (Fred’s alpha status was neither undisputed nor secure”), but leaves us with no clarity at all – whereas had the homework been done and handed in we would have the answer. The way to confirm alpha male status is done through a dominance matrix study – was this done or wasn’t it? Had it been done we would have clarity on the alpha male status of that troop – and if you are about to issue the death sentence surely you do the relevant work to get clarity? If necessary you may have to spend more time in the field to be absolutely certain of your facts before the execution of the order.
In defence of their decision making process, the article quotes the monitors who walk with the troop everyday. From the monitors, we are told, Fred’s status as alpha was undetermined – completely at odds to official letters from the service provider to members of the public who claim Fred (SWB2) was the dominant male, and needed specific attentions as a result.
The Ops Team offer a wonderful movement next as we swirl into behavioural data obtained from a film crew – 60 hours of footage confirmed that Fred dominated the food obtained from cars! Surprisingly, this footage illustrating his dominant behaviour doesn’t seem to be an indication that he was alpha… The introduction of film data is a showy, but unconvincing move that does little to impress. We all knew Fred raided cars – what to do about it was the debate.
Yet another piece of fancy footwork as they skirt around the waste issue – here we are told that at Millers Point, waste is not the issue. This must make the Millers Point the only place in southern Africa where waste does not attract baboons, and keep them coming back for more. If the waste was controlled (they assert), Fred would have still raided cars – without a doubt he would. But if the abundant waste were to be removed, would the troop stay in the area as much as they do? By raiding cars only Fred benefited from his rewards, but the easy food obtained from the waste keeps the whole troop in the area – so it was doubly easy and attractive for Fred to stay near to two fabulous reward systems. It makes good sense in every situation to secure the waste as the first step towards baboon management, as is included on the protocol – but this did not happen for Fred.
At least we are assured that the Ops team agree that “the local authorities” have been remiss in the lack of baboon-proofing of waste in the Millers Point area. (Sorry, but who sits on the Ops Team again? Which two authorities control the land in question? )
The beat goes up-tempo as we get to the attacks by Fred on the poor unsuspecting public. In one-month 28 raids are noted – one per day more-or-less. Hospitalisation and surgical intervention are mentioned to add some drama – scary indeed is the possibility of a baboon bite – a slash wound! So in the 3 years that Fred traumatised, terrorised, attacked and intimidated – just how many people did he slash?? I have an account of 3 people needing treatments for scratch wounds – not nice, very scary and probably the extent of the carnage.
Further drama is related with regards to the monitoring, whereby it is alleged that the most successful monitor in the area shoots the baboons with a paintball gun loaded with solid pellets – a fact they say. They also say this shooting baboons with solid pellets is illegal – what was done about this illegal action? Was the person in question warned? Fined? Not to anyone’s knowledge.
Of more concern than the issues raised above, is the lack of transparency surrounding decision making and the complete lack of willingness to impart any information at all – from protocols, to evidence of baboon misdemeanours, to scientific information – there is an iron curtain in place that precludes any discussion or interactions with those who may have interest and suggestions to make. The Baboon Ops team keep us in the dark – a form of censorship as they decide who they will, or won’t, liaise with, give information to or answer to.
Of note is that when members of the general public met to discuss Fred’s death, there were some imminently sensible and workable solutions offered. The most immediately workable solution being offered by Andrew Donaldson, who has no primatology background, nor rocket science degree – just concern for baboons and plain common sense. His suggestion – if the baboons are on the road, the monitors should flag the cars on; no stopping if there is wildlife on the road. If the cars keep moving, people won’t feed baboons and baboons won’t enter cars. Perhaps the law-abiding citizens may have to drive a few extra kilometres further along the scenic route to look at the view from a place of safety, but surely this falls in line with the Ops teams’ idealistic intention to keep baboons and people separate?
Undoubtedly, some readers of this letter will revert to the normal call to arms – “Better to have killed Fred – do we have to wait for a person to be killed before something is done about baboons?” My guess is that if you did have to wait for someone to be killed it would be a very long wait indeed – for the past 80 years baboons and people have met along the scenic route and there have been no deaths caused by baboons at all – nothing more than some scratches and high pitched screams.
The television show “Dancing with the stars” is undoubtedly entertaining and enjoyed by many – but fancy footwork and artful manoeuvres are best left to dance shows. In real life, where decisions can have fateful impact we expect honesty, transparency and accountability from those who hold the power. The Baboon Matters Trust reiterates our request that minutes of all meetings are made public within one week of meetings, and that no more baboon are killed under the current protocol systems.
The response from the Baboons Ops Team was indeed regrettable, and has answered none of the queries surrounding the murky circumstance of Fred’s death. As they end their missive on a positive note, however, I will join them in hoping that the ops team will improve their management of the Cape peninsula baboons – time to move from the oops team and start behaving like an inclusive operational team.
Yours sincerely
Jenni Trethowan of Baboon Matters
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