Wildlife authorities on South Africa's Cape Peninsula have confirmed they will trap two troops of chacma baboons that live beside Simon's Town and move them permanently into a fenced enclosure, ending their life in the wild. According to reporting by Mongabay, the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team, made up of the City of Cape Town, South African National Parks (SANParks) and CapeNature, has decided to capture the Waterfall troop and the smaller Seaforth troop and remove them from the landscape.

About 60 animals are involved: 44 from Waterfall and 16 from Seaforth, according to Sarah Waries, who is coordinating construction of the enclosure. The baboons have not yet been moved. The destination is the City-owned Urban Wildlife Centre at Kogelfontein, near Scarborough, where protesters have been gathering outside the gates on weekends.

The decision lands on both sides of a long-running conflict. Simon's Town residents have dealt with baboons raiding kitchens, bins and cars for years — while welfare groups and some scientists argue the city is locking up healthy wild animals instead of fixing the waste and fencing problems that pull them into town.

A Fenced Center Built for Life

The center was finished in September after construction began on July 1. A Cape Argus report in mid-September said the move still depended on a Wild Animal Captivity Permit, and Nature World News could not confirm whether that permit has since been issued.

Inside, the two troops will live in separate electrified enclosures with sleeping platforms, ropes and water. Published sizes vary. The Cape Argus put the Waterfall enclosure at 3 hectares (about 7.4 acres) and Seaforth's at 1.9 hectares (about 4.7 acres), while Mongabay reported 3.5 hectares for Waterfall and Daily Maverick reported smaller initial areas with extensions planned once environmental approval allows.

Cost is also reported differently. Waries told Daily Maverick that R10 million covers development and up to three years of operation, while the Cape Argus said the City is funding operating costs for four years. Some animals could need care for about 20 years, which is longer than either window.

The task team's Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Action Plan also contains a hard fallback. If welfare problems or a funding shortfall cause the center to fail and no other home can be found, the animals would be euthanized under a CapeNature permit with SPCA oversight. Waries stressed that this is worst-case planning, not an expectation.

"But if we're going to do it, we're going to do the absolute best that we can," Waries told Daily Maverick during a site tour.

Residents, Officials and Welfare Groups Split

Officials frame the center as an alternative to culling, not a conservation win. According to Daily Maverick's review of the action plan, authorities describe many Waterfall baboons as being in poor condition, heavily used to people and exposed to car strikes, dog attacks and shootings, and say the Seaforth troop threatens the critically endangered African penguin colony nearby.

The plan's wider diagnosis is a population squeeze. Peninsula baboons rose from roughly 360 animals in 10 troops in 2000 to more than 600 in 17 troops in 2024, while housing swallowed the low-lying land where they prefer to forage. When campaigners asked for a pause to allow independent review, the task team declined. "The Action Plan has been approved and will be implemented," its response said.

Ward 61 Councilor Simon Liell-Cock told People's Post he defers to the mandated conservation agencies. "I always defer to the recommendations of experts who have dedicated their lives to the conservation of the environment," he said, adding that he believed the center would give the troops a far better quality of life.

Opponents see it differently. About 100 people protested at Kogelfontein on Aug. 30, and Green Group Simonstown has resigned from the City's Baboon Advisory Group. Conservation biologist Dr. David Gaynor, who holds a doctorate in baboon foraging ecology, said he had proposed a privately funded fence along Simon's Town's residential edge that would exclude about 7.2% of the Waterfall troop's range.

"Why not test a reversible, privately funded physical barrier before making the irreversible decision to put two wild troops into permanent captivity?" Gaynor asked. The task team said fencing was fully assessed, would cost more than R30 million for the area involved and would push the baboons into poor high-altitude habitat.

Food, Bins and the Root of the Conflict

Much of the dispute comes back to food — and who controls it. The City began rolling out baboon-proof bins in the Far South in September, with the first 2,200 of a planned 6,000 bins due from mid-September, but Simon's Town was left out because the troops there are slated for removal. Critics argue that unsecured waste will keep drawing other baboons into town once Waterfall and Seaforth are gone.

The plan anticipates part of that risk. Rangers would use tracking data to stop the nearby Smitswinkel troop from moving into the space left behind, and a proposed urban wildlife bylaw would raise penalties for feeding or harming baboons and require households, businesses and the Navy to secure waste.

Safety inside the fence is another open question. The site has hydrants, sprinklers and 10-meter (33-foot) firebreaks, but if a wildfire overwhelms those defenses, the default is to cut the power, open the gates and let rangers herd the troops to safety before bringing them back. The Cape Peninsula has frequent summer fires, and how two captive troops would respond to that process is untested.

Lessons for Communities Living Beside Wildlife

The Cape Town fight mirrors decisions faced in U.S. towns that share space with bears, coyotes and deer. In each case, wildlife managers weigh removal, relocation or lethal control against slower fixes such as locked bins, fencing and enforcement against feeding.

The key facts so far are confirmed: the decision to remove both troops, the troop sizes and the completed center. Still unconfirmed are the capture date, the permit status, how long City funding will last and whether the bin rollout will expand to Simon's Town.

Past guidance from the Cape Baboon Partnership and the Cape of Good Hope SPCA asks residents to stay calm and keep dogs indoors when baboons are nearby, and City officials have identified feeding as a key driver of conflict. It is illegal to injure, capture or harass a wild baboon, so residents should report problem animals to rangers rather than act on their own.

The task team has said oversight reports on the center will be made public. A major review of the action plan is scheduled for 2030, with smaller annual reviews before then. Nature World News will follow the permit decision and the timing of the capture.

What Readers Want to Know

Which baboons will be captured?

The Waterfall troop of about 44 baboons and the Seaforth troop of about 16, both of which range next to Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula.

Where will the baboons go?

They will live in two separate electrified enclosures at the City-owned Urban Wildlife Centre at Kogelfontein, near Scarborough, for the rest of their lives.

Has the capture already happened?

No. As of the latest reports, the animals had not been moved, and the relocation was reported in September to depend on a Wild Animal Captivity Permit.

Why are officials removing the troops?

Authorities say the troops are habituated to people, often injured or killed in town, and in Seaforth's case a threat to African penguins. They describe the center as an alternative to culling.

Why are activists protesting?

Opponents argue the city should first try fencing and baboon-proof waste management, and they object to permanently confining and sterilizing two wild troops.

Could the baboons be euthanized?

The action plan allows euthanasia only if the center fails for welfare or funding reasons and no other home is found. Officials call this worst-case planning.