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Baboons have always been part of South African culture. Like blue skies and sunny weather, they have just always seemed to be around. Alas, like sparkling blue skies (South Africa is the biggest polluter in Africa), baboons might disappear. For years it was common practice among many white farmers to keep a baboon chained to a pole in the backyard. Farmers' anecdotes still abound with the almost legendary presence of fearless troops of baboons, swarming down to orchards and fields and stripping them bare. Because baboons are highly inquisitive, they are generally regarded as a nuisance, with human feelings veering from wry amusement to irritated annoyance. South African baboons were long ago classified as "vermin," which gives farmers the freedom to do with them what they like, whether that means capturing or killing them. There are, however, environmental groups concerned about the effect this has had on the baboon population of South Africa, and a work group has been set up to change the legal status of the baboon. According to the central Department of Nature Conservation, based in Pretoria, the old ordinances classifying baboons as "problem animals/vermin" are still valid. When a farmer has problems with baboons, she or he has to contact the department to obtain a permit for shooting them. Conservation officials will visit the farm and decide whether a permit will be issued. Other solutions are generally not considered. According to the Northern Province Environmental Department, there is no such category as "problem animal/vermin" anymore, but the new classification still has to be discussed in Parliament. Baboons Subject to Demand and Supply In a conversation with the manager of a small game reserve in the Northern Province (the province with the largest numbers of baboons, either wild, roaming free or in reserves, and therefore the biggest player in the baboon controversy) I was shocked to learn that he shoots baboons on sight. When I asked him whether he wasn't afraid for their numbers, he confidently assured me that baboons "breed like rabbits." The manager, it turns out, also supplies baboons to university medical laboratories (one of these universities last year admitted possessing 55 baboons). He isn't even paid for these baboons by the universities--the removal of the baboons is remuneration enough for him. Meanwhile, the Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pallo Jordan, earlier this year responded to pressure from environmental groups and set a moratorium on the export of baboons. None of the environment officials I spoke with was very clear on whether this moratorium was still in place, and if so, in which provinces. But Minister Jordan himself supplied an emphatic answer: recently it came to light that Jordan gave permission to an agency called CAPE (Centre Africain Primatologie Experimental, which is supported by the French government) to trap more than 150 baboons in the Northern Province and fly them to France. Jordan admitted that he wasn't sure what they were going to be used for, but hinted vaguely at pharmaceutical research. According to one newspaper, CAPE itself said that the baboons were going to be used for AIDS and Ebola research. (This agency had been implicated in investigations in 1990 and 1995, when it was revealed that they kept primates in horrendous conditions, as well as using them for nuclear radiation tests.) When asked for their comments on Jordan's startling decision, environmental officials in the Northern Province said that they had no knowledge whatsoever of the agreement and that since Jordan makes autonomous decisions, they were, in effect, powerless. Other organizations also claimed that they had not been consulted. Jordan himself was unapologetic: "What can I do?," he said, "If the French government is prepared to put its neck on the line, then we think it's okay to give CAPE the licenses." Numbers Unknown If there are as many baboons as is commonly believed, why should such a fuss be made? Maybe a more important question is how many baboons are left in the country? Many organizations, from the respective provincial environmental departments to various mammal research units, have told me that baboon numbers are unknown and very difficult to ascertain because they also live outside nature reserves and move around. A different view, however, is held by independent environmental organizations like SAAV (South Africans for the Abolition of Vivisection) and CARE (Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education). According to Rita Miljo, who runs a rehabilitation center for baboons in the Northern Province, baboons have been nearly wiped out in the rest of the country. The Northern Province is the only area still left with a healthy population, which could easily be depleted by trapping. Another factor is baboons' high infant mortality rate--Miljo estimates it at about 50 to 70 percent. It was long believed that baboons could not be rehabilitated, but Miljo's work is proof to the contrary. Northern Province officials, however, have experienced problems with their relocation programs. So far all the relocated troops have died out. Many years ago it used to be said that the Cape wild dog was vermin and that its healthy numbers could sustain systematic hunting. Today there are about 100 wild dogs left in South Africa, thanks only to intensive breeding programs. Baboons have endured that same antagonism for years, and a label of good-for-nothing animals. Is the end of the line finally in sight for them, too? Carolize Jansen is currently finishing
a post-graduate degree in Linguistics in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She hopes to pursue a creative career in environmentalism.
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