Cape Town to Round Up Two Baboon Troops for Sanctuary, Faces Animal Rights Backlash

Cape Town’s city council announced it will imminently round up two troops of chacma baboons that have been repeatedly breaking into homes and shops. The animals will be sterilised and permanently relocated to a newly constructed sanctuary. The move has drawn fierce criticism from animal‑rights activists, who argue the monkeys should remain free and that less destructive options were not adequately explored. The baboon problem has escalated since the 2000s, after the city halted culling in the late 1990s amid public pressure. A 2025 census found the population had grown by a third, from 360 in 2000 to 493, now organised into 12 managed troops.