She has spent her career trying to protect the primates in the Cape Peninsula , of which there are more than 400 . In Barrydale , she sees an opportunity to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand . `` What is so exciting about the Barrydale scenario is the fact that they are being extremely proactive , '' Trethowan told CNN . `` In many of the other areas it 's been a long time , where baboons have become habituated and trained . Now in Barrydale they are saying ` let 's stop this behavior quickly before it gets started , ' and that 's enormously exciting for me . '' Trethowan has pinned her hopes on implementing a baboon-monitoring program in the village . At the Joshua Baboon Rehabilitation Project , just outside Barrydale , Baboon Matters is training locals to be baboon monitors . The monitors are tasked with patrolling Barrydale and herding baboons away from homes and farms . `` If we can get the monitoring program going quickly before the baboons are habituated I believe we stand a good chance of success here , '' said Trethowan . Nola Frazier runs the
Cape Town , South Africa -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As natural habitats disappear in South Africa , baboons and humans are increasingly coming into close contact , and conflict . In South Africa 's Cape Peninsula there has been a large-scale transformation of wild baboons ' natural habitat into land for housing , industry and agriculture , according to the University of Cape Town Baboon Research Unit . The result is that wild baboons are surrounded by humans , which the researchers say is causing human-baboon conflict to escalate . But the problem is n't confined only to the Cape , as baboons are increasingly venturing into towns and villages across southern Africa in search of food , often leaving a trail of damage in their wake . In the farming village of Barrydale , a four-hour drive from Cape Town , baboons are a growing problem . While some local farmers say they want to shoot baboons found in the village , others favor a more sustainable solution . Report : Central African gorillas may go extinct Jenny Trethowan , of advocacy group Baboon Matters , is known as the `` Baboon Lady '' back in Cape Town .