End of the run for Faithless Baboon in Cape Town

He is the infamous baboon from the Idlik Cape Peninsula at the tip of South Africa: after many misdeeds, the thief, he dares to be a recurring criminal, hires a team. And there, the officers stopped.

The dominant male was killed Thursday morning in Cape Town City Hall with the help of a veterinarian who said he was “manually euthanized” in a statement.

The baboon, the infamous scavenger and the thief of food remained for a few moments in their backyards or even on their terraces on the seafront, the strange little hamlet of Smitswinkel Bay that had been terrorized for months, one of the last continents on the southern tip.

Having settled in the area since 2018, after escaping from his original group working on a nearby tourist route, he began attacking houses from the inside, empty or even in front of their dumb inhabitants.

His thefts became less and less subtle. The fearless baboon was divided into “urban areas” more than 40 times in five months. In February alone, he robbed ten occupied houses, citing the city of Cape Town in its press release.

And the range of its intervention extends over eight kilometers.

Hundreds of baboons live around the port city of Cape Town. For food, existence is considered painful because of the attacks they make against property or tourists.

In recent weeks, a separate group of women and children have teamed up with the ugly baboon and the authorities have had to intervene, with the city endangering the entire group by its behavior.

Locals fortified their homes with anti-baboon equipment, restricted their food waste and removed their open trash cans. But they failed to stop the gang.

“Despite the additional costs and a more active commitment from the village, especially around waste management, the baboon has more and more important contacts with the population,” he said in a press release.

With the death of their leader, the city hopes that a split group of young men and women will soon find their natural habitats. And a more normal life.