Looking out for the wild side
21 June 2022
The City of Cape Town has installed wildlife warning signs along five roads in the South. These are roads where wild animals from baboons, to porcupines, tortoises, caracal, Western Leopard Toads and many others are known to cross during the day or at night. This is a joint effort from the City’s Urban Mobility Directorate and the Environmental Management Department to keep our wildlife and residents safe.
The new wildlife warning signage was recently installed along five roads in the South, namely:
Rhodes Drive in Constantia
Constantia Road in Constantia
Orpen Road in Tokai
Noordhoek Road in Noordhoek
Simon’s Town Main Road in Simon’s Town
The City is planning to install more warning signs in the Cape Point region in the new financial year.
‘Cape Town is one of the most biodiverse cities in the world. We are blessed to have Table Mountain National Park in the heart of our city, with a further 21 nature reserves and many more protected areas embedded within the fabric of our city. These natural spaces are home to a wide variety of wild animals, many of them nocturnal, such as porcupines. Given that these animals live within and on the edges of our urban areas, they often cross our roads and are in danger of being run over while doing so. The purpose of the warning signs is to make road users aware that there is a possibility that wildlife may be busy crossing the road, or may be within the road reserve, and to drive with caution. This is in the interest of the welfare of our precious wildlife and will also assist with the safety of road users,’ said Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment.
The signs are installed along secondary arterial routes and sites are identified by officials from the EMD and local City traffic engineers.
‘All of the signs comply with the South African Road Traffic Signs Manuals and are applicable to all wildlife, be it those animals that move around in the day or at night. It may seem simple, but these signs cannot be installed at any site – for example, the sign must be positioned where there is sufficient sight distance for road users; and also, the signs may not obstruct any other vital road sign such as those indicating a sharp bend, a stop sign, pedestrian crossing and the like,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
Captions: The new wildlife warning signage was recently installed along five roads in the South, among which Constantia Road in Constantia, and Noordhoek Road in Noordhoek.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
