A 69-year-old man is said to have died after a baboon pushed him off a ramp at a South African homeless shelter.
The Independent Online reports that Michael Bates, a resident of the Happy Valley Home in Simon’s Town, died on Sunday from injuries he sustained from a 2-meter fall.
According to the shelter’s deputy chairman, Wilf Nussey, Bates found himself on the wrong side of an aggressive male baboon from the local baboon troop. Part of the problem seems to be that the baboons had lost their fear of humans through regular interaction. They had gone as far as to enter the shelter’s dormitory on previous occasions.
On the fateful day, the baboon’s alpha male, Jimmy, was chased out of the dormitory by residents. Nussey described what is believed to have happened next:
I don’t know the exact details but apparently Jimmy was in the dormitory and was chased out – and as he came charging down the ramp, Michael, who was apparently standing at the end of the ramp, was in the way and got shoved off.
Cindy Dollery, the Happy Valley Home manager, elaborated:
It was a freak accident. I’ve been told that one of the residents threw a jug of water at the baboon and, as it ran out, Mr Bates was knocked down. He died in his sleep on Sunday.
The death of Bates has renewed the call for authorities to monitor the baboon troop.
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