Enjoying lunch at the canteen.

A big male baboon that has been a daily visitor to a mine near Brits for the past three years, had to be relocated last weekend after discovering the mine’s canteen.
“For the past three years, the big boy has scavenged the waste bins for food, never bothering anyone, but a couple of weeks ago, he discovered the canteen where mine employees enjoy lunch. He dished up for himself, but then discovered it was much easier when people fled who had already dished up their meals,” said Brendan Murray of the Owl Rescue Centre in Hartbeespoort.
The baboon would help himself to the food on the tables after people ran away, and make himself at home outside the canteen to enjoy a leisurely lunch.
“Although he had not bothered anyone before, people fled when he entered the canteen, and the mine management felt it was safer to have him removed before an unfortunate incident occurred,” Murray said.
A trap with bananas was set on Friday, but the big boy managed to grab one without being caught. However, he ventured far enough into the cage on Saturday and was trapped.
“Mine management alerted us that he was in the trap, and we fetched him. He was relocated to an area more than 100 km away.”
The baboon is estimated to be about 11 years old. “When a baboon male gets older, he is often kicked out of the troop and becomes a solitary nomad. Because they are social animals, one would often see them shadowing other animals and humans. Baboons can live up to 35 years.”
Hopefully, he will stay in his new environment, but who knows … canteen food might just be too addictive!