Jeffrey, the Joburg Baboon has been captured

Multiple reports and sightings flooded local community Facebook pages last weekend after a baboon was spotted in Northcliff and Emmarentia on Saturday and Sunday.

Animal welfare group Claw’s (Community Led Animal Welfare) Cora Baily said in a Facebook post last week that “it is not easy to trap and relocate these animals, but we have been successful in many cases. We rely on residents to give us sightings, including time and location pin.”

ALSO SEE: WATCH: Baboon on the loose in Joburg suburbs

Jeffrey’s adventure, however, has come to an end. After keeping Joburg residents entertained for almost seven weeks, he has been captured.

Claw said in a Facebook post on Saturday 3 April that the baboon was successfully trapped on Friday.

Picture: Facebook Minouise Vd Merwe

“It has not been an easy task, especially because he crossed the busy N1 at least twice, and was backwards and forwards as far as our leafy northern suburbs,” the group said on Facebook. 

The team from Claw drove him to a Rehabilitation facility for primates on Saturday morning. He will be held in a pre-release enclosure so that he can acclimatize to his new surroundings and get used to the troops in the area. “Once he has acclimatised to the new surroundings, he will be released up on the mountain where other wild baboons live and he can integrate into one of those troops,” they said.

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