100% Pure New Zealand. DOC plans massive 30,000ha drop of 1080.

/ December 22, 2013
cleangreennz

1080 drops in New Zealand

New Zealand’s 100% pure image took another hit today with the news that the Dept. of Conservation is applying for consent to expand the range of its aerial 1080 drop to 30,000 hectares of countryside.

Hardly the sort of thing you’d expect in a country that calls itself 100% Pure middle earth and prides itself as a location for environmentally on-message films such as  Avatar and Z for Zachariah, but isn’t that what greenwashing is all about?

1080, or Sodium fluoroacetate, is a potent toxin developed for use in warehouse bait boxes. It is manufactured in the USA where its use is tightly controlled: it may only be used in chemical collars on domestic herbivores, to kill coyotes. In New Zealand hundreds of tonnes of pellets laced with 1080 are dropped from helicopters every year.

New Zealand is the world’s largest consumer of 1080, effectively preventing the abolition of the chemical and the development of more humane alternatives. Animals who ingest it die a long and cruel death. Its indiscriminate use kills all wildlife within the drop zone including native birds and insects that feed on it. It could be called the Agent Orange of the animal world.

“The Department of Conservation is applying for resource consent to make further 1080 drops in Southland and wants to drop it in a larger area.

DOC southern region conservation services director Allan Munn said $1.2 million of funding would be used for 1080 drops in the Waitutu area in autumn.

An aerial assault on rodents would form the major part of the 1080 poisoning but where it was cheaper and practical, ground baiting or trapping would be considered, he said.

The department would be seeking a multi-year consent from the regional council for a period of up to 10 years, he said.

DOC Fiordland conservation services manager for biodiversity Lindsay Wilson said the department was hoping to expand the area it dropped the 1080 to 30,000ha…

“The department will be applying for a new resource consent for the Waitutu Forest because it wanted to extend the boundaries to the west to protect a significant mistletoe population and north to expand the protected area,” he said…” more here

In a single year at least 65 dogs die an horrific death from ingesting 1080, that is only a fraction of the true number. source

There are many videos on Youtube showing cows, horses, deer and other animals dying in agony from the poison. There is no antidote.

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3 thoughts on “100% Pure New Zealand. DOC plans massive 30,000ha drop of 1080.”

  1. My question regarding 1080 poison is always the same.

    What is going to happen when a New Zealander is killed as the result of 1080 ingestion?

    Sooner or later there will be a human death as the result of this poison being used so indiscriminately and in such massive amounts.

    Sooner or later an adult or child is going to ingest some of it by accident, and when it happens their family members will be forced to stand around and watch one of those closest to them dying either in hospital (while doctors fight to save their life), or in agony out in the middle of nowhere (which unfortunately is far more likely).

    It’s not a question of IF this is going to happen, it’s a question of WHEN.

    Is this what it is going to take before the DOC stop using such a brutal and incurable poison as a method of pest control?

  2. E2NZ

    Since NZ has very little native wildlife by international standards, the policy of indiscriminate baiting is both callous and irresponsible. We expect the ‘authorities’ to know what they’re doing, however in this case I have to say I’m very sceptical.

    Sometimes the collateral damage is unacceptable and in many areas, invasive species are managed rather than exterminated.

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