Manufactured “cereal” pellets impregnated with 1080, and a deer killed by consuming the same pellets; both the poison and many of its victims end up in watercourses to pollute the country.
There are two principal agencies which are active in using 1080 poison to kill animals. They are Department of Conservation and the Animal Health Board. In the case of DoC, they claim that use of aerial broadcast 1080 is the only effective means of controlling animals which they regard as threats to the “Indigenous Biodiversity” of New Zealand. The main “pest” DoC claims to target is the Brush Tailed Possum”, and DoC also claims that by using 1080 they are able to control rat and mustelid numbers as well. They regard the possum as a threat to vegetation and to birds, rats and mustelids to birds and invertebrates.
The Animal Health Board is a Society which is funded by levies on farmers and which was initiated by the NZ government. AHB targets possum and to a lesser extent mustelids because like cattle, possums and ferrets can become infected with bovine tuberculosis and potentially act as a reservoir for the disease. The AHB claims that bovine TB puts NZ meat products at risk to the export international market.
Other proponents of 1080 include an “extreme green” element who have a vision of turning the clock hundreds of years to return the environment to a state which they claim existed before NZ became colonised by humans.
The recent review for continued approval of 1080 use by the Environmental Risk Management Authority of NZ (ERMANZ) approved aerial 1080 use only in remote rugged inaccessible terrain, quoting 1080 as a “necessary evil” and with the comment that it would be monitoring its further use as under an orange flashing light.
ESPC DOES NOT ACCEPT THE JUSTIFICATIONS FOR 1080 USE ON ANY OF THE ABOVE GROUNDS AND WE BELIEVE THE CLAIMED GROUNDS TO BE POORLY BASED, EVEN UNREALISTIC AND DANGEROUS TO THE ENVIRONMENT, AND IN SOME CASES A THREAT TO OUR TRADITIONS AND SOCIETY AS NEW ZEALANDERS AS WELL AS TO THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF ANIMALS AND PEOPLE. SOME PICTORIAL EXAMPLES CAN BE VIEWED BELOW, AND ALSO ON U TUBE IF YOU CARE TO USE 1080 AS A SEARCH WORD
Recreational public lands and natural water are made unsafe, and domestic stock is killed by poor controls.
Up to 50% of the native Tomtit are killed with each drop and the freshwater crayfish (Koura) are also victims.