‘It’s hard to sell a house when it’s covered in baboon faeces’: Cape Town divided over plan to remove its monkeys

The Guardian Africa · Sep 27, 2026

Two troops of chacma baboons are breaking into homes and shops but animal rights activists insist coexistence is the answer Cape Town’s city council has said it will “imminently” round up two baboon troops coming into repeated conflict with residents . The animals will be sterilised and permanently moved to a newly constructed sanctuary. The plan has been fiercely criticised by animal rights activists, who say the monkeys should remain roaming freely, and that less destructive options have not been properly considered. Cape Town’s baboon problem has been brewing since the 2000s, after the city