In Cape Town, South Africa, an ongoing conflict between people and baboons has escalated to the point that local authorities are considering culling 117 animals from four troops, roughly a quarter of the local population. The 45-kilogram (100-pound) primates sometimes raid homes for food and have injured people, but local conservationists argue killing them isn’t the answer.

Urban expansion in Cape Town has pushed chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) into areas with fewer natural food sources but plenty of unsecured garbage bins that provide easy access to high-calorie food. Authorities say the local baboon population has nearly doubled since 2000 as suitable habitat has shrunk, a predictable recipe for conflict. Residents report property damage while baboons are injured and suffer health consequences from eating from trash cans.

The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) says culling is one option, alongside translocating baboons, fencing them in, and creating sanctuaries.

“No decision has been made as yet about the proposed removal of four troops from the Cape Peninsula,” a CPBMJTT spokesperson told Mongabay by email.

Carol Knox with Green Group Simon’s Town, a local environmental nonprofit, said the best solution is simple: provide locals with baboon-proof trash bins. “You blame baboons for coming for food that you don’t secure and now you say they must die because of that. That’s really perverse,” Knox told Mongabay in a video call.

The latest 10-year baboon management plan, for 2023-2033, says the city of Cape Town “will work to improve waste management through providing baboon-proof bins.”

But Knox said the number of such bins actually provided is inadequate. “This group has not done what they promised to do according to their own documents.”

Another strategic baboon management plan also notes an “insufficient response” to calls for baboon-proofing waste and human food sources.

Baboons are vital ecosystem engineers and critical seed dispersers: a 2018 study found they disperse seeds from least 24 different species of plants. Researchers emphasized “the need to conserve, rather than persecute, chacma baboons.”

Baboons are especially important for the health of Cape Town’s fynbos, a diverse shrubland full of endemic plants found only on the tip of South Africa. “Their roles are so intertwined with the whole environment that if you take them away, it’s a devastating loss,” Knox said.

Part of the baboons’ habitat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and conservationists warn that culling baboons could undermine both the region’s biodiversity and UNESCO status.

A UNESCO spokesperson told Mongabay by email: “We are following closely the issue and are in contact with the South African authorities to better understand the situation” and how it might impact the qualities that justify the UNESCO status.

For now, local authorities are still working with residents and local stakeholders to come up with a plan for the baboons.

Banner image: Baboons forage near Constantia, Cape Town. Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Halden Krog)