Why Is Cape Town Planning to Remove Two Baboon Troops?

Cape Town's chacma baboon population has grown by a third since 2000, rising from 360 animals to 493 living in 12 managed troops, according to a 2025 census cited by The Guardian. The city council now says it will "imminently" round up two of those troops, sterilize them and move them permanently to a newly built sanctuary — a plan that has split residents and animal welfare advocates over whether removal or continued coexistence is the right approach.

How many baboons live in Cape Town now?

The 2025 census found 493 chacma baboons across 12 managed troops on the Cape Peninsula, up from 360 in 2000, The Guardian reports. The population boom has intensified conflict with residents over the past two years, according to the report.

What is the city's removal plan?

Cape Town's city council has said it will move to round up two troops that have repeatedly clashed with residents, sterilize the animals and relocate them to a sanctuary built for that purpose, per the Guardian. The troops in question have been raiding bins and kitchens, ripping off roof sheeting, breaking into unlocked cars and, in Simon's Town, staying active late into the night to enter homes and convenience stores for food.

Why are activists opposed to the plan?

Animal rights activists have criticized the removal plan, arguing the baboons should remain free-roaming and that the city has not adequately explored less disruptive alternatives, according to the Guardian's reporting. The dispute traces back to the late 1990s, when Cape Town stopped culling baboon troops after public pressure — a policy shift that set the stage for the population growth now driving the current standoff.

How is the baboon population affecting property values?

"It's depreciated property values because it's hard to sell a house when it's covered in baboon faeces and paw prints, and you know they're coming every day," said Justin O'Riain, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Cape Town who has studied the local baboons, as quoted by the Guardian.

Residents on the Cape Peninsula say the disruption has changed daily life: barbecues and garden parties have become impractical because of raids by the animals, the Guardian reports.

What is driving the conflict in the first place?

Geography plays a role. Much of the problem is concentrated on the Cape Peninsula, a narrow strip of land where baboon habitat runs directly against residential development, limiting how far troops can range before encountering homes, bins and unlocked vehicles, according to the Guardian. Combined with population growth of roughly a third since 2000, that proximity has turned what was once occasional foraging into near-daily break-ins in some neighborhoods.

The city has not published a timeline beyond describing the roundup as imminent, and the Guardian's report does not specify a cost for constructing or operating the new sanctuary. HTT News will update this story as the city council releases further details on the relocation plan and its funding.

Smorgi Challenge — A live iOS party game. Random alarms drop dares. Not a wake-up alarm.