Port Elizabeth’s wandering baboon spotted at Fort Frederick last week is still roaming around the city’s suburbs, the Herald Online reported on Wednesday.
Wildlife rescue specialist Mark Marshall said the frightened animal was now probably holed up on the Port Elizabeth golf course.
”Each time we have got a call of a sighting in a garden, when we get there, it has gone. It’s obviously very frightened and not feeling secure anywhere, so it’s just walking through.”
Marshall said the baboon had probably entered the city’s fringe about a month ago.
”I first started receiving calls from Lorraine, then Kragga Kamma Road. Then it went quiet for about a week until the sighting last week at Fort Frederick down in Central.”
The baboon is probably an adult male, the Herald said.
Chacma baboons feed mostly on bulbs, fruit and insects in the wild. This baboon was probably surviving by raiding vegetable patches and gardens, as baboons also enjoyed munching on flowers, said Marshall.
”My big worry is he is going to start raiding dustbins and will then be deemed a nuisance and somebody will take a shot at him.
”If anyone sees him they must please call me and I can come out and put a cage trap in place,” said Marshall.
Sightings can be reported to Marshall on 082 261 9280. – Sapa