By Sheryn Clothier Editor "TreeCropper" the NZTCA national magazine.
I recently viewed Poisoning Paradise, an anti-1080 documentary by Steve and Clyde Graf. These brothers obviously know and love our bush, and had some superb footage: of stags called up to the camera; of kiwis hunting in daylight; of wekas eating 1080; of koura (fresh water crayfish) fighting over 1080 carrots; of tomtits pecking at full-size 1080 bait; of cattle and dogs and horses slowly dying horrific and cruel deaths; of hundreds of birds, deer, sheep and pig carcasses, not resting in peace, but contorted into an ugly and obviously painful death spasm.
Forest and Bird support 1080, claiming it is a "humane way to kill" and "causes herbivores to die quietly from heart failure". There is absolutely no possible way you could buy that line after seeing this footage. That we can cause uproars over Crafar Farms and SPCA examples of animal cruelty, but condone this at governmental level, over and over again, in our beautiful bush, is incredible.
DOC dismissed the documentary as emotive - they were right, it is.
But even if we could dismiss the humane issues as a necessary evil (and no animal is that evil) - where is the justification?
Asking DOC gets a pre-programmed mantra: "Aerial 1080 drops are the only economical way to control possums, and possums must be controlled because they are a major cause of Tb – which could affect our export markets."
Hunters and trappers say they can achieve a cleaner, greener, more humane, and semi-profitable control by trapping and selling the meat and fur. 1080 proponents say ground control doesn't work, only easily accessible areas are targeted and trappers move on to more profitable areas once a certain level is reached - effectively 'farming' possums.
Anti-1080s disagree; they say ground control can achieve a higher kill rate and,
besides, the land next to stock is easily-accessible. They say bounty systems have worked before, and can work again.
NPCA (National Possum Control Agencies) advises that $80 million is spent each year on possum control. In 10 years we have reduced our estimated possum population from 70 million to a 'best informed estimate' (no one really knows) of 50 million possums.
That's $40 a possum.
That's a lot of taxpayers' money. That's a lot of subsidy for a new industry. That is some bounty.
[continued next column - click the bar below]
Possum processors say their 100-ton Japanese orders of possum meat vanished into thin air when they were unable to guarantee 1080-free product. Maybe it is not just about anti-1080, maybe it is also about wasting tax-payers' money, creating new jobs and supporting a sustainable, environmentally-friendly, clean-green industry that could eventuate in self-sustaining possum control?
Land Care Research themselves admit that "...Tb is not widespread in possums and is often difficult to find. On a broad scale, prevalence of infection is usually less than 2%."
And even at that small level, Anti-1080s ask for the evidence that infected possums actually do re-infect bovines. And ask what is going to happen to our export beef market when it is realised 1080-contaminated cows can, and probably have been, processed into beef? That 1080-contaminated milk is mixed into the national vat?
Studies on the effects of 1080 seem to be amazingly absent. What happens to the eels that eat the poisoned carcasses? The trout that eat the poisoned koura? The hunter's pregnant wife who eats the contaminated pheasant (or pig or deer)? What happens to our invertebrate, bacteria and fungi? What is the long-lasting effect on biodiversity after such a massacre of our bird life? How does it affect humans drinking contaminated water?
Not only are the ramifications not known, the basic recommendations from the 1080 manufacturer are not even followed. We are endangering our very valuable clean green image, stifling a new industry and potential jobs, and poisoning our very precious paradise.
And I can't understand one single real reason why.
I was somewhat anti-1080 before, having heard what it had done to family dogs, and noticing myself its lethal effect on birds, and felt DOC were very heavy-handed and undemocratic whenever approached about it. But as a tree cropper, I have no love for our furry Aussie pests and am the first out with the .22.
But I do have an almost worshipful, protective respect for our endemic bush, and consider the mass genocide of 1080 a pointless, inhumane sacrilege. After watching Poisoning Paradise and researching this editorial, I am now definitely in the anti-1080 camp.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Threatened Legal Action
A Tuatapere landowner has threatened legal action if the Department of Conservation flies over his property to drop 1080.
Graeme Muldrew told an Environment Southland resource consent hearing yesterday he was staunchly opposed to the aerial drop.
In a written submission, Mr Muldrew says: "I will consider legal action if my section is affected by this action and in particular my health and children."
Mr Muldrew yesterday said he planned to issue a trespass notice to DOC if it was successful with its application and if his section was in their "flight plan".
The move was backed by the property's co-owner Stephen Gamble, he said.
Mr Muldrew said while unsure if his property would be in the flight-planned route, his land was still likely to be affected regardless of where the poison was dropped.
A DVD titled Poisoning Paradise, which he played as part of his submission, showed the effect of 1080 on animals. It also showed the impact the poison had on plant and water life, Mr Muldrew said.
DOC has applied for resource consent to drop cereal bait over 25,000ha of Fiordland's Waitutu Forest.The application has drawn widespread disapproval, with 50 of 58 submissions on the application opposing the move. Four submissions supported the move and four were neutral.
The consent hearing began on Monday and finished yesterday, with committee members to meet next week to deliberate. A decision is expected early next year.
During his oral submission Mr Muldrew called on DOC to consider using ground control rather than an aerial drop.
He was one of six submittors opposing DOC's plan at the hearing yesterday.
Other submittors told the council the aerial drop would result in the unnecessary slaughter of non-target species, cause loss to commercial and recreational users, and have a long-term impact on the area's coastal and marine environments.
On Monday, DOC representative Dave Carlton told the consents committee the benefits of possum control using the poison outweighed the costs and risks if proper controls were in place.
Southland Times. 2/12/09
Graeme Muldrew told an Environment Southland resource consent hearing yesterday he was staunchly opposed to the aerial drop.
In a written submission, Mr Muldrew says: "I will consider legal action if my section is affected by this action and in particular my health and children."
Mr Muldrew yesterday said he planned to issue a trespass notice to DOC if it was successful with its application and if his section was in their "flight plan".
The move was backed by the property's co-owner Stephen Gamble, he said.
Mr Muldrew said while unsure if his property would be in the flight-planned route, his land was still likely to be affected regardless of where the poison was dropped.
A DVD titled Poisoning Paradise, which he played as part of his submission, showed the effect of 1080 on animals. It also showed the impact the poison had on plant and water life, Mr Muldrew said.
DOC has applied for resource consent to drop cereal bait over 25,000ha of Fiordland's Waitutu Forest.The application has drawn widespread disapproval, with 50 of 58 submissions on the application opposing the move. Four submissions supported the move and four were neutral.
The consent hearing began on Monday and finished yesterday, with committee members to meet next week to deliberate. A decision is expected early next year.
During his oral submission Mr Muldrew called on DOC to consider using ground control rather than an aerial drop.
He was one of six submittors opposing DOC's plan at the hearing yesterday.
Other submittors told the council the aerial drop would result in the unnecessary slaughter of non-target species, cause loss to commercial and recreational users, and have a long-term impact on the area's coastal and marine environments.
On Monday, DOC representative Dave Carlton told the consents committee the benefits of possum control using the poison outweighed the costs and risks if proper controls were in place.
Southland Times. 2/12/09
Sunday, November 29, 2009
DoC say 1080 relativity save.
1080 IS NOT SAVE..
In fact, 1080 is one of the most deadly poisons known to man - it has no taste, no smell, and no antidote!
One teaspoon of pure 1080 - the amount that is usually applied per hectare, in New Zealand (equates to about 3KG of bait) - is enough to kill 600 endemic Weka, 1200 possums, or 2500 dogs per hectare! (There is usually about 0 - 3 possums per hectare).
In fact, 1080 is one of the most deadly poisons known to man - it has no taste, no smell, and no antidote!
One teaspoon of pure 1080 - the amount that is usually applied per hectare, in New Zealand (equates to about 3KG of bait) - is enough to kill 600 endemic Weka, 1200 possums, or 2500 dogs per hectare! (There is usually about 0 - 3 possums per hectare).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Coroners documented proof of mans death by 1080 poisoning.
The family of a Mataura possum hunter who died from 1080 poisoning 43 years ago want his death publicly acknowledged by the Department of Conservation and Animal Health Board.
Both agencies say no-one has died of accidental 1080 poisoning in New Zealand.
But Ian Buchanan's widow, 69-year-old Elva Wicks, of Invercargill, said that was not true.
Wicks was 25 years old and the mother of three young children when her first husband, Ian Buchanan, died a "ghastly death" in Dunedin Hospital in 1966.
Coroner J Murray found Buchanan died from "central nervous system depression accompanied by respiratory and cardiac failure due to 1080 poisoning".
The poison was found by investigators in a tin of jam kept in a back porch cupboard, but it was never discovered how the poison came to be in the jam, or how Buchanan consumed the 1080.
"If DOC and the AHB say they haven't heard anything about Ian's death it's because they don't want to hear," Wicks said.
"It is documented on his death certificate – how can they deny it?"
AHB spokeswoman Anne McLean said the manner of Buchanan's death was unclear.
DOC spokesman Rory Newsam said the department was unaware of Buchanan's death until alerted by the media this week.
Source Stuff News.
Both agencies say no-one has died of accidental 1080 poisoning in New Zealand.
But Ian Buchanan's widow, 69-year-old Elva Wicks, of Invercargill, said that was not true.
Wicks was 25 years old and the mother of three young children when her first husband, Ian Buchanan, died a "ghastly death" in Dunedin Hospital in 1966.
Coroner J Murray found Buchanan died from "central nervous system depression accompanied by respiratory and cardiac failure due to 1080 poisoning".
The poison was found by investigators in a tin of jam kept in a back porch cupboard, but it was never discovered how the poison came to be in the jam, or how Buchanan consumed the 1080.
"If DOC and the AHB say they haven't heard anything about Ian's death it's because they don't want to hear," Wicks said.
"It is documented on his death certificate – how can they deny it?"
AHB spokeswoman Anne McLean said the manner of Buchanan's death was unclear.
DOC spokesman Rory Newsam said the department was unaware of Buchanan's death until alerted by the media this week.
Source Stuff News.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Another Scientist Steps In.
Helen H
17 Nov 2009 11:08a.m.
As a research scientist who has come to 100% pure NZ, I am disgusted and horrified by the complete lack of ignorance of DOC and the scientists it uses to promote 1080. They say that 1080 protestors should get their facts right, I suggest DOC do a little research themselves as there are hundreds of scientifically researched papers globally outlining the horrors of the super-toxin(1080) and its detrimental and catastrophic effects it has on the environment and all who live there. It astounds me that the people who are polluting clean, green NZ are proud of what they are doing and I can only believe it is because they are completly ignorant of the overwhelming facts against it or they are in the employment of the DOC paymasters. This is a toxin which you cannot smell, taste or see in water and takes up to 6 months to biodegrade in the environment. There is no antidote in the world for this poison and the way it kills is incredibly inhumane. It is rumoured that in NZ it has even been found in the milk of cows who have ingested small amounts and therefore has been passed into our food chain. What we don't know are the cumulative effects of a low dose of this toxin on a regular basis as no research has been done on this in NZ. Elseswhere in the world it has been proven that low doses on a regular basis affects male fertility and the unborn foetus. This happened after residents had their water supply contaminated by 1080. How many of us are aware of what is being leaked into our water supply on a daily basis in a country which still supplies unsterile drinking water to residents who have to boil it everyday to drink. They said "Agent Orange was safe", we know differently now!!
17 Nov 2009 11:08a.m.
As a research scientist who has come to 100% pure NZ, I am disgusted and horrified by the complete lack of ignorance of DOC and the scientists it uses to promote 1080. They say that 1080 protestors should get their facts right, I suggest DOC do a little research themselves as there are hundreds of scientifically researched papers globally outlining the horrors of the super-toxin(1080) and its detrimental and catastrophic effects it has on the environment and all who live there. It astounds me that the people who are polluting clean, green NZ are proud of what they are doing and I can only believe it is because they are completly ignorant of the overwhelming facts against it or they are in the employment of the DOC paymasters. This is a toxin which you cannot smell, taste or see in water and takes up to 6 months to biodegrade in the environment. There is no antidote in the world for this poison and the way it kills is incredibly inhumane. It is rumoured that in NZ it has even been found in the milk of cows who have ingested small amounts and therefore has been passed into our food chain. What we don't know are the cumulative effects of a low dose of this toxin on a regular basis as no research has been done on this in NZ. Elseswhere in the world it has been proven that low doses on a regular basis affects male fertility and the unborn foetus. This happened after residents had their water supply contaminated by 1080. How many of us are aware of what is being leaked into our water supply on a daily basis in a country which still supplies unsterile drinking water to residents who have to boil it everyday to drink. They said "Agent Orange was safe", we know differently now!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Reply to AHB & DoC.
Far from offering protection to our meat & dairy industries, one contaminated shipment of either to our overseas markets, would stop our exports over night and it is now not IF but WHEN – remember we are all down-stream or in the catchment of DOC or AHB poisons!
Our main source of new bovine tuberculosis is from stock movements & movement controls are an area which has show our biggest gains in recent years – it is time to adjust movement controls & tighten up the vulnerable areas – provide farmers with comprehensive, accurate information to deal with persistent & recurring infections on their farms – know that USA & Canada did this without slaughtering its wildlife & they achieved TB free status which they have held for years.
As to claims of biodegradable 1080 – under what circumstances & do these circumstances exist in NZ bush?
No they do not; temperatures of 20-30 degrees are required to degrade 1080 from water. This can take months to achieve – in the meantime there are all those dead carcasses available to our insects & birds that carry on killing and killing.
One of the compounds remaining after 1080 does breakdown is fluoro-hydrocarbon which is a green house gas – hardly the harmless “salt & vinegar”. It is time to stop defending the indefensible – no more aerial poison, re-think its ground use – ban 1080 altogether.
Our main source of new bovine tuberculosis is from stock movements & movement controls are an area which has show our biggest gains in recent years – it is time to adjust movement controls & tighten up the vulnerable areas – provide farmers with comprehensive, accurate information to deal with persistent & recurring infections on their farms – know that USA & Canada did this without slaughtering its wildlife & they achieved TB free status which they have held for years.
As to claims of biodegradable 1080 – under what circumstances & do these circumstances exist in NZ bush?
No they do not; temperatures of 20-30 degrees are required to degrade 1080 from water. This can take months to achieve – in the meantime there are all those dead carcasses available to our insects & birds that carry on killing and killing.
One of the compounds remaining after 1080 does breakdown is fluoro-hydrocarbon which is a green house gas – hardly the harmless “salt & vinegar”. It is time to stop defending the indefensible – no more aerial poison, re-think its ground use – ban 1080 altogether.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
1080 March in main centres..
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 5:09p.m.
By Bob McNeil TV3
Today is poisons day and campaigners have been marching in a number of centres, targeting the use of 1080 poison.
Campaigners want the poison banned, but the Animal Health Board and the Department of Conservation say that in certain circumstances it's the best way of controlling predators and disease-carrying possums.
Anti-1080 protestors marched in Auckland and 16 other centres around the country today.
They believe 1080 poison can be harmful to human beings and when it comes to killing animals, it doesn't discriminate between pests and other species.
Thomas Greve, of Poison Free NZ, says 1080 is poisonous to everything it touches.
“Most of us are greenies - health loving people - we love our animals and we're out there demanding this stop,” he says.
“It poisons everything, the soil, the insects, and of course non-targeted species, that's our concern - we're not sabotagers.”
William McCook of the AHB says the poison is not dangerous to people.
“Current methodology and technical knowledge ensures that 1080 doesn't pose any risk to human health, and it has in fact good net benefits to environmental factors - your bird life, your ecology,” he says.
The AHB says 1080 is important because it helps protect our premier markets for export products.
The poison-free campaigners say they want to work with Doc to help them get more funding for research because they believe there are better ways of controlling pests than dropping poisons on inaccessible land.
By Bob McNeil TV3
Today is poisons day and campaigners have been marching in a number of centres, targeting the use of 1080 poison.
Campaigners want the poison banned, but the Animal Health Board and the Department of Conservation say that in certain circumstances it's the best way of controlling predators and disease-carrying possums.
Anti-1080 protestors marched in Auckland and 16 other centres around the country today.
They believe 1080 poison can be harmful to human beings and when it comes to killing animals, it doesn't discriminate between pests and other species.
Thomas Greve, of Poison Free NZ, says 1080 is poisonous to everything it touches.
“Most of us are greenies - health loving people - we love our animals and we're out there demanding this stop,” he says.
“It poisons everything, the soil, the insects, and of course non-targeted species, that's our concern - we're not sabotagers.”
William McCook of the AHB says the poison is not dangerous to people.
“Current methodology and technical knowledge ensures that 1080 doesn't pose any risk to human health, and it has in fact good net benefits to environmental factors - your bird life, your ecology,” he says.
The AHB says 1080 is important because it helps protect our premier markets for export products.
The poison-free campaigners say they want to work with Doc to help them get more funding for research because they believe there are better ways of controlling pests than dropping poisons on inaccessible land.
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