Save the CT2 troop

It seems impossible to think that we have now been working with the CT2 troop for almost a full year!  What started out as a short term interim project has lurched from month to month as we are entirely reliant on funding from the general public to keep going.  It seems there have been too many occasions when we have been down to the last few days of funding, but luckily we have managed to pull through and we are so very grateful for your support and we are still here and working successfully  

Our two teams of monitors have done extremely well on the limited resources and have managed to keep the troop in Cecelia Forest or the beautiful natural area of De Hel for the majority of time.  Baboons have entered homes on a mere handful of occasions in the time our teams have been working as (despite a lot of effort from Baboon Watch WC to baboon proof garbage bins) the lure of easy food thrown into waste is still an attractant that brings the troop into urban areas on “bin day”.  We will continue working to encourage residents to baboon proof their bins and to use best practices for waste management (e.g. no organic matter in  general waste).

Although our teams have worked long hard hours, I am sad to report that the troop has suffered some tragic losses; Millie was killed by a car when she left the troop after the monitors had gone off duty for the night (we don’t know why she moved out of the sleep site area). Millie’s death meant that her young 10 month old daughter Mo didn’t have maternal support and the little baboon battled to keep up with the troop.  

The timing of Millie’s death could not have been worse as young dispersing male Charlie was attempting to join the troop and the dominance fights between alpha male Quinton and the young incoming male caused tremendous upheaval within the troop, meaning that Mo simply didn’t get the support she so needed.  We were devastated when Mo was killed by a car just weeks after her mom; tragically little Mo was killed in the same area as her mom.

After all the upheaval, the troop was slowly starting to accept Charlie and settle down when Charlie, too, was killed by a car in the high accident zone that had taken the lives of Millie and Mo.  The area has a tremendously busy road that winds along the mountain of Constantia Nek; there is dense vegetation and steep slopes meaning that if the baboons do attempt to cross the road at that point the chances of a road accidents are high.  We have been making every effort to prevent the baboons crossing there and the monitors and volunteers have been working well into the evenings and starting very early in the mornings to warn road users about the baboons.  We are pleased to note that the regular road users do know to slow down, but there will always be speedsters.  We have repeatedly asked the City of Cape Town to place traffic enforcement along that road to reduce the speeding and we hope that our requests are followed up with positive outcomes. 

The year has been one of great stress and emotional loss, we have had to deal with intolerant shooters who fire randomly at the baboons, as well as deal with dogs attacking and chasing the baboons when they are on the mountain.  Tragically the matriarch of the troop, Big Mama, was horrifically mauled by two dogs when she jumped into a property near to a sleep site.  Big Mama was carrying her 5 month old daughter Zeleka and sadly both mom and daughter were euthanised.  We were all heartbroken at the losses.

When I recount the deaths, it seems overwhelming – baboons living in such close proximity to dense urbanization and coming into regular contact with humans holds so much potential for conflict, and there has been a tragic toll on this small troop as a result of the busy roads, dogs and intolerant, illegal shooters.  I wonder what would have happened had we not stepped in with our teams?  Would there be any of the troop left?  

Although our task seems monumental, and at times it does feel as we have not achieved enough, I do believe that our dedicated teams are doing everything that they can to keep the baboons safe. It has been exceptionally hard to see how saddened each man is when we lose baboon life and then to see how hard they are prepared to work to make sure the troop stay on the mountain, away from residential areas.

We are extremely grateful for being enabled to do our very best for the baboons through your financial contributions to our work and I hope that you will continue to support our efforts.

#Looking for a miracle

Our work with the CT2 has been filled with emotional highs and lows as we struggle to fund funding to keep our valiant monitors employed to safeguard this small troop.

It has been a heart wrenching few weeks as the teams on the ground dealt with the death of Millie, who was killed in a hit and run, and the incredible sadness as Millie’s young daughter Mo (just 10 months old) was crying for her mom and running to keep up with the troop on her own.  The monitors, together with Sam and Bonita (Baboon Watch WC) have told me how some the younger baboons have carried Mo when she gets tired, Mzukisi expressed such concern when he related to me how some of the juvies can barely walk with Mo under their belly or clinging to their backs.  Benson was so encouraged when his team noted that in the last few days Mo has been seen in a lot with Big Mamma who is looking after her own infant and now Mo too. 

In addition to the loss of Mille, the troop are anxious as Charlie, a young dispersing male from a Constantia troop, attempts to join the troop and Quinton has been seen chasing Charlie off and keeping his group under close scrutiny. The teams have been working really hard to keep the troop in the Cecelia Forest, but when Charlie puts in an appearance they scatter and run… and also take advantage of the rich food rewards found in the many non-baboon proof bins.

The weather has been particularly cold in the past weeks and our guys have only rudimentary uniforms and wet weather gear, two of the radios needed repair and maintenance and so it has been tough going.  But the teams are persistently positive, determined and hardworking, I am so very, very proud of them all.

We were so grateful to local resident David who has helped so much over the past few days keeping an eye on Charlie and then offering to loan the teams radios while ours are being repaired – what a fantastic help that was! Thank you David!

We have been super excited to have wonderful prizes donated for the raffle Sam is running to raise money, local businesses who have been grateful for our hard work stepped up with gorgeous prizes and we hope that the raffle will bring in much needed finances.

So after the roller coaster of emotional lows and lovely support,  it just breaks my heart to tell you that we are just not raising enough money to cover the running costs of the project.  We need to raise R43 000 per month, a big ask in these times of stress and financial strain.  Most months we have managed to raised between half to two thirds of the required funds, and Baboon Matters has been able to cover the short fall.

We have approached organisations for emergency funding as well as the City of Cape and members of the Joint Task Team, but as I sit here we have had no success securing the funds we need and Baboon Matters has used every bit of money we had in our account to make up the shortfalls.  We can pay the teams until 10 July 2023, but thereafter we cannot subsidize the project any more, we just don’t have the resources. 

I have been so profoundly grateful to those who have supported the CT2 troop and teams, we have had incredible support from a handful of amazingly generous souls and we are all so very grateful to you. To those who donated boots, gear, R100 per month from some people I know are battling themselves; your support has been huge and we have been so thankful.

The project team of Sam, Bonita, Gerry and I have spent hours going back and forth, trying to find ways to get more money in – and we are still working hard; as mentioned Sam has had some incredible prizes donated for a raffle, Gerry is planning an event in August and Bonita is working hard finding organisations we can approach for funding as well as everything she does.  

Lorraine from Baboons of the South has given us indomitable support and tried to secure funding by reaching out to contacts, but sadly most organisations have allocated funding for the year.  Still, I am sending out proposals widely and we will have our SnapScan up and running as soon as possible.

This is an exceptionally hard post to write, all of us involved in this project have been so positive, worked so hard and really tried everything we can.  We are all hoping for and praying for a miracle, we don’t want our decent, hardworking men  to be without work, we don’t want the troop to revert to old habits and we certainly don’t want them wandering unmonitored in an area where we know there are residents using high caliber weapons to shoot at the baboons.  But we are left with no option at this stage.

Urgent appeals will continue to go to as many organisations and agencies as we can find, the raffle will take place and we hope that the JTT will come forward with emergency funding we have requested.    We hope that you will take advantage of the Fund Matching offered by GlobalGiving on 12 JUly, when donations of $100 will be matched by GlobalGiving, meaning that your donation goes even further.

Thank you for you on-going support, we will keep you all posted as the countdown for a miracle begins…