Human Baboon Conflict in South Africa

humans and baboons conflictBaboonMatters.org.za/ websiteGreenTracker| Meet Jenny Trethowan, of advocacy group Baboon Matters, is known as the “Baboon Lady” back in Cape Town. As wild baboons lose their natural habitat to housing projects, human-baboon conflict rises. Many villagers want to shoot the human-like animals, but Jenny and her friends seek a more sustainable solution.

In Barrydate, South Africa, the human-baboon conflict is just beginning, giving sustainability activists hope of implementing a different approach.

“Baboons are definitely incredibly opportunistic and incredibly adaptable, so from a management point of view it makes it incredibly difficult,” said Trethowan. But she said it’s these same characteristics that drew her into a life of advocacy for baboons.

“It is hugely amazing to watch how these baboons will adapt to a situation and will seize an opportunity and work with whatever they’ve got,” she told CNN.

“I think we’ve got a lot to learn from them, in hopes of showing more people the positives in an animal so often labeled a problem.” via CNN