Two young baboons from Kommetjie in the Western Cape have died of suspected poisoning and a third is being treated at a veterinary clinic, the Cape Times reported on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the animals were deliberately poisoned in a continuing conflict between primates and humans on the Peninsula.
They were so ill that they allowed themselves to be taken to a vet without resistance.
A young male and a young female died at the vet on Monday. Another young female, nicknamed Angelina Ballerina, appeared to be recovering. They were the only juveniles of a baboon troop at Kommetjie.
City health officials are to examine the area where the baboons forage around the rubbish dump and near a bakery in Kommetjie.
Jenni Trethowan, who runs Baboon Matters, was alerted to the first sick baboon on Monday. ”I went out to Ocean View on Monday and was shocked to see the young male,” she said.
”He was bent over with his head down. It was awful. He was so sick he let me pick him up, and he’s a wild animal. I put him in the car and took him to the vet.”
While he was being treated, she received another call about a sick baboon near the bakery. ”We took her to the vet as well, but both of them died.”
Fourways vet Hernan Azorin could not say conclusively whether the three were poisoned, but found no signs of other sickness except for haemorrhaging — which is consistent with poisoning. — Sapa