BETTY’S BAY - Another baboon had to be euthanised on Saturday after it was severely mauled by a Pitbull terrier on private property in the Silver Sands area. This follows shortly after a well-known male from the Betty’s Bay troop, Brutus, was recently euthanised after allegedly being shot several times with a pellet gun. Pete Oxford of the Betty’s Bay Baboon Action Group and the owner of the dog in Lakeside Rd both confirmed this weekend’s incident. The owner said his dog had some wounds and bruises and they were keeping an eye on him. He said he did not want to comment on the incident itself and would deal with the matter through his attorney. This is the second unnatural death of a male baboon in the Silver Sands troop this year. It appears from the monthly report for January by Human Wildlife Solutions that one of the troop’s better-known members had to be put down after a motor vehicle accident. Oxford says the Betty’s Bay Baboon Action Group was not informed about the incident until it was mentioned in the January report from HWS. <strong>Ed:</strong> <em>On Tuesday another young baboon was killed near Penguin Place after it was apparently hit by a vehicle.</em> Betty’s Bay Ratepayers Association has meanwhile also entered the fray and has submitted a statement about the incident to Overstrand Municipality’s executive mayor, Dr Annelie Rabie. According to Oxford’s Facebook report about the latest incident, he received an urgent call on Saturday morning to come and assist with a problem involving a baboon and a dog. Apparently, the fight started inside the property and continued across the street in the Fynbos. “We told the caller to phone the HWS Hotline (in case we needed a vet) and made our way immediately to Lakeside Road in Betty’s Bay. We arrived at a horrific scene, a Pitbull terrier had already inflicted terrible wounds on an old male baboon. The poor animal was in a bad way. He was a much-loved baboon in the area, did not raid houses, was very gentle, and known to many. When we arrived, the Pitbull was still in full attack. The baboon was totally hunched up in a defensive position and each time it moved the dog got a new hold on the animal." “I was half a meter away. The dog owner was between me and the baboon. He had ZERO control over the dog. The owner had a stick and a taser. I was yelling at him to pull the dog off. He said it would bite him. I said hit the dog with your stick, he not much more than tapped it." “The real horror was that while the dog was ripping into the baboon and had it firmly in its grip the owner tasered the baboon!! He would not allow us to get at the dog until another member of the public dragged it off.” Chairman of the Betty’s Bay Ratepayers Association, Wayne Jackson, was the person who managed to get the two animals separated. He told the Herald that he has compiled a statement about the incident and sent it to the Mayor of Overstrand Municipality as well as to municipal law enforcement department for further investigation. According to Oxford there is a serious dog problem in Betty’s Bay. “There have been many recorded attacks by vicious pit bulls. Only two days ago while driving slowly along a narrow road near main beach a guy with two very large Boerboel type dogs on a single lead lost control as they, straining on their hind legs, tried to go for (his wife) Renee’s face through her open window. They were at eye level." “Then, the other day, we were called as two ‘hunting’ dogs from Mooiuitsig spent hours trying to get at a grysbok which remained frozen on a ledge in fear, they most certainly wanted to kill it." “Please don’t come to me with the argument that that is why baboons must be kept out of the urban area. They are not even safe in the mountain. Remember Lady? She was badly mauled there too. At least three of our troop were hunted and eaten in the mountains when in the Palmiet area during lockdown (in the ’sanctity’ of Cape Nature land).” Oxford's call on the community to address the real and present danger of uncontrollable, vicious dogs, is echoed by Jackson, who also pointed out that law enforcement officers need information to take proper action.
