The Great Primate Handshake – Volunteer in Africa, working to conserve monkeys and apes through film and educational content production

Article by Helen Bamford of IOL.co.za

The use of bull whips to manage baboons has been slammed by the SPCA in the Western Cape.

The organisation says it won’t hesitate to take action against anyone who uses a whip to harm a baboon, including operators of the company that manages the baboon monitors in the southern Peninsula.

The Nature Conservation Corporation, which was recently awarded the contract to monitor baboons, announced on Friday it had issued its monitors with cattle whips.

Managing director Dean Ferreira said the monitors had been instructed to use the whips to create a cracking noise and not to hit the baboons.

He said the whips were being used instead of firecrackers, which could not be set off close to other animals or where there was a danger of vegetation being set alight.

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The Great Primate Handshake are currently on-route to Cape Town to investigate how digital media can be used to raise awareness of the threats baboons face, and the actions necessary to conserve the last baboon populations living in and around the Cape Peninsular. Await live news from the field this coming week.