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South Africa: Experts - It's Not Cruel to Collar Baboons
Cape Town - Tracking collars placed on some of the Peninsula's baboons may cause the animals some inconvenience, but the conservation gains from invaluable information collected far outweigh any disadvantages, say the researchers involved.

And they point out that the use of these GPS collars, standard research tools applied to many mammal species all over the world, on the local baboons has been approved by the ethics committees of both the University of Cape Town and of SA National Parks.

It was also unanimously approved by the multi-member Baboon Management Team which is ultimately responsible for managing the Peninsula's troops.

Seven baboons have been collared since the project started, and four collars are still being worn by the animals.

The researchers' response follows a letter from the Cape of Good Hope branch of the SPCA to UCT's Baboon Research Unit, asking it to stop using the collars until it has been proved that they are not cruel, and to provide copies of the ethics committees' approval.

Following complaints about the alleged negative physical and behavioural impact of the collars, the local SPCA sent copies of the complaints, photographs and a short video clip to the National Council of SPCAs, which expressed concern.

"Although neck collars are widely used, there are alternative methods such as microchip telemetric devices that are implanted subcutaneously. The collar can hook on branches, etc, posing a risk to the animal.

"The collar may prevent the animals from performing natural behaviour such as grooming the area around the neck and chin

"We are of the opinion that the collar shown in the visuals is totally inappropriate and unacceptable," the national council said.

On the strength of that, the local SPCA then wrote to the head of the baboon unit, Dr Justin O'Riain, asking the unit to stop use of the collars pending an assessment of their possible cruelty.

O'Riain, who pointed out that the SPCA had worked directly with primatologist Dr Dave Gaynor to place the first collar on a Peninsula baboon in 2003, said he would invite SPCA staff into the field with the research team to witness first-hand the completely natural behaviour of the collared baboons.

"We can take them to three troops, each of which has a collared animal. And if any of those collared animals is showing any signs of tugging at the collar or worrying about it, we will take it off immediately.

"But since deploying the collars we've seen every animal, and not once have we seen any sign of distress caused by the collar. And the suggestion that they can't groom is nonsense."

The researchers did not deny the collars were an inconvenience to the animals, O'Riain explained.

"But we have to weigh that up against the possible merits, which to me far outweigh any inconvenience. That's what the ethics committees are there for, to assess the potential scientific merit of the work against that inconvenience.

"And the scientific merit of this work is worth the method, and the method will provide an important conservation improvement to the status of these baboons."

O'Riain said the video clip sent to the national council showed a baboon recovering from the effects of the anaesthetic dart used during the collaring operation, which could have created the wrong impression.

He added that the project had been internationally peer-reviewed and approved.

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