Cape Town - Baboons in Kommetjie have gatecrashed a pre-school three days in a row, leaving a little girl upset and traumatised as she refused to part with her lunch.
Kommetjie Eco Pre-Primary principal Stella New, who has been a part of the school for 29 years, said it was not a new occurrence as they had baboons in and out of the property over the years, however, last week they became frequent visitors at the pre-school.
“The baboons were in the playground several times last week and walked right into the classroom where the little kids were having their lunch.
“We have taught them to drop their food and get to the nearest adult.
“The baboon, a big male, came into the classroom and sat down, peeled and ate a naartjie and went into the kitchen where he stole a 2kg bag of sugar, but they managed to chase him out.
“The children are only three years old and one girl was holding on to her lunch box and she was very upset, but we managed to calm her down.
“I don’t think the baboons will injure us in any way unless they are cornered, but the children do get traumatised by it, especially if they had traumatic experiences at home,” New said.
“The baboons are so quiet, the teachers look out one door for them and they sneak in by another door.
“We are teaching the children how to live with baboons so when they are on the property we say ‘our friends are around’ but we want to teach them not to panic.”
New said they have never had a serious incident and there has never been more than one baboon at a time.
The City of Cape Town and Cape of Good Hope SPCA directed enquiries to the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team.
The task team said the NCC Environmental Services is contracted by the City to provide baboon ranger services to keep baboons out of the urban area, including Kommetjie, but they are not able to operate on private property.
In July, a task team consisting of representatives from SANParks, CapeNature and the City called on communities from baboon-affected areas, and organisations from the South Peninsula with a direct interest in baboon management, to nominate representatives to serve on the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group.
The task team said they have received around 120 nomination forms and were processing the applications.