Protect the Chacma Baboons in Sabie, South Africa

GlobalGiving Report -  May 2018

Saving the Chacma baboons of Sabie

We are delighted and very excited to report that as a direct result of funds raised through GlobalGiving there has been some positive movement and progress in our on-going work to save the baboons of Sabie.

On the 2 May 2018, Baboon Matters attended at workshop in Johannesburg hosted by the Baboon Damage Interest Group.  It was wonderful to see that our efforts to bring the plight of the baboons in Sabie to the fore has resulted in more attention on this issue and four large, well respected NGO’s attended the workshop to fight for the baboons.

The on-going engagement with plantation owners and Forestry SA (FSA)  as well as the international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has been fractious over the past 10 years as Baboon Matters has continually fought to stop the slaughter of baboons within the pine plantations. We have been requesting research results and base line data that supports the plantations idea that the population density of baboons is the main reason for damage caused by baboons but despite our efforts the killing continued and no information was forthcoming.

This may start to change now – simply because, through GlobalGiving, we have been able to raise R65 000 for specified research. The plantation owners, FSA and FSC are now in a position where they are under pressure to match the funds we have “put on the table” and work to much stricter timelines to come up with quantifiable data.  It also means that we will be able to undertake research that we believe will help come up with solutions that end the need for lethal management!

But we can’t stop here, we need to raise more funding to ensure that the full scope of research needed is undertaken as quickly as possible and that results of the research immediately start to influence management.

We are meeting with FSA research directors again in June – in itself a remarkable improvement when one considers that in previous years there may be one meeting per year, but now ,thanks to the support of the GlobalGiving community, we can push ahead with greater speed and resources to put an end to the killing of baboons in Sabie as well as potentially create some employment and skills development for currently unemployed residents of the area.

We are all enthused and cautiously optimistic that we will start to see change within the management of the pine plantations so that baboons are no longer killed!  I look forward to reporting more positive movement in our next report.

Figure 1 Baboon Matters was joined by representatives from Prime Crew, Harnass and CARE at a recent workshop where solutions to stop the killing of baboons in pine plantations were discussed.