Bring Back Kataza campaigners making strides to bring him home

Residents of the Cape Peninsula have united in efforts to ensure a baboon, affectionately named Kataza, remains safe. He was allegedly taken from his home in Kommetjie last week and re-homed with another hostile troupe of baboons in Tokai by the City.

According to the Bring Kataza Back Facebook page, he “is a baboon of the Cape Peninsula who has been kidnapped from his troop and dumped in hostile territory”.

“We call for Kataza’s returned to his home troupe and his baby. We also call for a review to the cruel and ineffective baboon management system,” the post reads.

The group has been tracking the animal’s movements, with spottings posted daily. He’s most often reported to look confused, dazed and bewildered as he searches for his troupe. According to the City, a factor in Kataza’s relocation is better breeding opportunities.

City spokesperson Kay Montgomery has confirmed that Kataza was temporarily removed from the area and this has aided in making the troop more manageable and keep them out of Kommetjie. Residents said the troop still made their way into Kommetjie despite Kataza’s absence.

“As the SPCA we would welcome humane alternatives, such as relocation, as opposed to the premature euthanasia of raiding baboon(s) provided that it complies with relevant legislation and that the management had the best interest of the baboon(s) in mind when this decision was made. We are not of the opinion that the baboon was abandoned or dumped, but rather that he was provided an opportunity to adapt to a new environment and troop in the hopes of eliminating dispersing/raiding behaviour,” says SPCA inspector Lizl Pienaar.

“Kataza is something increasingly unusual, an adult male chacma baboon of the Cape Peninsula. This is the only group of coastal foraging baboons in the world. His troop was the Slangkop troop which moves between Slangkop, Ocean View and Kommetjie an area of the Table Mountain National Park increasingly fraught with development,” the post says.

“Baboons are incredibly peaceful creatures. Kataza was a family man and coexisted peacefully with the other alpha male of the troop and demonstrated a lot of care and affection towards the juveniles of the troop. Despite being forced inhabit a created ‘Landscape of Fear’, the official term used by authorities for the management strategy they employ, baboons never attack people and only ever show aggression when cornered and feeling threatened, as any animal would do, and they always signal warning in sound and body language.”

According to Bring Kataza Back, an application has been made for the baboon  to be killed. “His ‘rap sheet’, that is number of times he had made use of opportunistic foraging from unsecured rubbish bins, was deemed not yet sufficient to justify his death,” it says. “After that Kataza disappeared. He just disappeared. His troop and especially his new babies he had fathered and with whom he was so clearly very loving left abandoned.”