Almost the entire West Coast of the South Island is currently covered in deadly pesticides — mainly 1080, and also cyanide and others poisons, aerial and distributed by hand.
From Kohaihai Bluff, North of Oparara River, all the way down to Wanganui Bluff, near Poerua River, around Hari Hari – there are multiple poison operations in and around the coasts, rivers, estuaries and forests. And astonishingly, even more are planned. That’s over 300 kms of poison signage. This presents a high risk of contamination of drinking water and our food chains.
As New Zealanders travel around our country during the Christmas holidays, often for the first time – we URGE people to be aware, to take precautions and to share your knowledge of the pesticide risks with others. Remember: 1080 poison has NO ANTIDOTE.
If you have internet coverage where you are – much of the West Coast sadly does not — check Dept of Conservation Pesticide Summary interactive maps, alongside the regional councils and Ospri websites.
If you do not have access to the internet, please visit your local council and DoC office (if they are open to the public) and insist that the staff find out whether an area is contaminated. Do NOT rely on signage as this is often missing, unhelpful and/or illegible.
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I know only too well as a dog owner and angler, I went to fish the Aorere River in Golden Bay and every access seemed to have “Danger, 1080 Poison” signs. I was frustrated and angry. Dogs are very susceptible to 1080 even 12 months or more after the drops.
The same on the West Coast. The 1080 is a bad image and a deterrent to tourists. And Golly, the West Coast since covid needs Kiwis touring the region.
Stupid thing of it all is there is no justification by OSPRI for bovine TB “control” or DOC (the two big irresponsible poison spreaders) for poison. Possums do not carry TB. Besides NZ’s Tb infection is so low it is virtually nil, many times below the World Health Organisation rule of about 0.1/0.2 for being Tb-Free.
So are the politicians going to sit on their hands and let OSPRI and DOC bureaucracies waste taxpayer money while devastating the ecosystem and driving domestic Kiwi tourists away? I won’t be visiting the West Coast.
What is West Coast MP Damien O’Connor doing?
The only MP awake to the stupidity/danger is National’s Maureen Pugh.
The failure of our elected MP’s to stop the helicopter and ground poisoning with 1080 and similar poisons is largely due to a relentless propaganda campaign by MPI’s TBfree / OSPRI, the Department of Conservation (DoC) Forest & Bird and others who profit from the poisoning. It’s a classic case of “Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister” politics.
Over $100 Million dollars is wasted annually so gullible politicians can grandstand about biosecurity and how they are saving rare native birds. It’s a con, a sting, a fraud. Some of the propagandists know it but they don’t care. They would lose their jobs if they questioned. Damien O’Connor is too proud to admit he has been conned. “There is no “Yes Minister ” with me he told me. Yes Maureen Pugh knows 1080 is responsible for killing native birds and not necessary for TB biosecurity but she is so far down the National Party peck order she would lose her seat if she pushed Ban 1080 too hard.
Maybe our new Minister of Conservation Kiri Allen will be smart and tough enough to end this 1080 poison fraud. Already her advisors will be seducing her with warm fuzzies about Predator Free 2050 and what a heroine she will be if she rubber stamps the poison campaigns. Well she works for us, not a handful of over paid heads of departments. Isn’t that why we elect MP’s ?
This will never change while this Agenda 21/30 is in play so we must all wake up and do away with the UN for a start but this Government won’t do that. It needs a revolution to change things so we must all demand this. Besides the damage to the bush just think of the harm to humans let alone the animals from the toxic runoff. If we want NZ to be safe again we have to take control.
I encountered the same situation as Shelby Wright. I love taking my labrador fishing but so often I’ve had to leave him/her behind. I once fished Stoney creek (a tributary of the Inanaghua) near Reefton after a 1080 drop. I left my lab behind of course. Stony Creek was like a morgue- silent and spooky.
I fled it and fished the Waitahu River nearby which hadn’t been poisoned at the time. The bird life was prolific.
Yes the justification for 1080 lacks. NZ is Tb free and has been for years. OSPRI is a big con on the public. DOC knows from research (Ruscoe 2007) that after 1080 the 20% surviving rats boom and end up 4 years later being 400% original pre-poison numbers. How stupid (or deceitful) can DOC be?
Environmental genocide.
1. Pets and stock killed by 1080. When compensated, a form is signed not acknowledging
1080
2. The Grafs brothers documentary is not shown on Television.
So the government knows 1080 is unethical and responds in like.
1080 kills everything.
Well done New Zealand.
1080 on the land and corporate quotas on the ocean for export.
You’ve got it covered.
You sure know how to screw up a island with environmental genocide.
THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO POISON NEW ZEALAND WILL SOON BE CONSIDERED TO BE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE GESTAPO – OR WORSE!
MY WIFE I HAVE OWNED A SIGNIFICANT PART OF TAUMATA LAGOON IN THE WAIRARAPA SINCE 1992 AND WE, WITH THE AID OF THE GREATER WELLINGTON REGIONAL COUNCIL, ELIMINATED CLOSE TO 10.000 PREDATORS.
THE RESULT BEING A MASS OF NATIVE & WETLAND & BUSH BIRDS.
PS
PS:
WHEN DOC WAS CREATED EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA – LARGELY BECAUSE MANY FORMER WILDLIFE SERVICE STAFF WOULD BE PART OF DOC! AND SO IT CAME TO PASS! EXEPT THAT THE WILDLIFE SERVICE STAFF WERE TREATED LIKE CRAP AND ALL BUT DON MERTON SURVIVED FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. DON WAS A GOOD FRIENED, BUT HE HATED BEING INVOLVED WITH DOC; WHERE 90% PLUS KNEW NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING. THERE’S LOTS ABOUT DON ON THE INTERNET.
The West Coast of the South Island is a beautiful place to visit…. if you are a deaf person. Otherwise it is just upsetting. It is the most perfect illustration of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” that I have ever come across. All thanks to decades of constant aerial 1080 poisoning by the NZ government.
Yup. Well, the people of NZ who voted for any Govt that allowed this need no complain. They are all responsible, or should I say irresponsible! It brasses me no end that people have been warning for years about this. It always seems to be – destroy one evil using another. I’m fed up with this BS…time to dump some friggn 1080 around the friggn beehive and all the politicians gardens. C’mon NZ…rise up and let’s do something about this!
~Moderator Comment
Whilst we can understand the frustration brought about by this topic, in no way can we condone any such actions as suggested here
Unfortunately NZ”s ecosystem is totally destroyed. The people there have been lied to by their government. Media blackout on the truth about 1080 and other lethal pesticides and toxins is the norm. Children have been brainwashed. Animals have been cruelly killed. The once incredible trout fishing has been destroyed. I, for one, do my best to let other folks know that they are wasting their time and money traveling to NZ. I experienced NZ in a better time. I traveled all over NZ through the years, for decades. But my last trip there 2 yrs ago showed me that those days are forever gone….and I left earlier than planned. It was disgusting to know what the NZ government has done to a once beautiful country. The very people who have tried relentlessly to warn people there, what the truth is, and who have tried to save Nature’s beauty, have been disrespected, when they should have been praised….I honor them…and the people of NZ need to do the same. Tony Orman, Carol Sawyer, the Graf brothers, Dave Witherow, and to the many who participated in the fight against 1080, just to name a few, have put their reputations out on a limb to warn NZers….they are the ones who have been paying attention and trying to save NZ…..everyone else just marched along with blinders on…collecting their paychecks while being part of the destruction of what used to be a beautiful country. Shame on them. Shame on the NZ government. https://www.flydreamers.com/en/articles/new-zealand-the-poisoned-nation-a1745#ref=search/results
Yes, Aerial 1080 is New Zealand’s greatest contribution towards mankind’s ultimate disgrace. Trying to create a designer ecosystem, with its foundations built on the mistakes of the past.
Using a cruel, broad spectrum toxin, aerially spread indiscriminately by helicopter .. thousands of tonnes of it, spread across millions of hectares .. at huge cost to us (taxpayers) .. killing target and non-target species alike. Indeed, everything that consumes oxygen.
Poison rain.
Instead of coming to terms with the fact we are nature’s greatest fu#kup .. and the best thing we can do is just STOP.
Instead, we barge on.
If we don’t like it .. for whatever of our own, indulgent purposes .. change it.
No matter how futile.
Fu#kup upon fu#kup.
Watch Sir David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Planet”.
We have to change our ways.
We don’t have much time left, if we are going to take a different path .. to try and lead ourselves to our own salvation …
(Personally, I support .. and am actively involved in .. population management of problematic introduced species, using traditional methods. The only acceptable methods are those effective on specific target species. without causing a heinous, cruel death, and posing little or no risk to non-target, intended beneficiary, native species.
Aerial 1080 fails miserably against these conditions.
I am therefore one of a growing number of people I know who no longer participate in Possum control .. which I have spent decades doing, at every opportunity .. in areas where Aerial 1080 *cannot* be used. This is purely a protest against Aerial 1080. It is also in recognition that, for many, Possums are a Valued Introduced Species .. valued for vocational and recreational purposes, centred around skin and fur recovery. We do not want to see species becoming rare and endangered, in our country .. so, and I never thought I would see the day .. we must start practicing conservation of Valued Introduced Species.)
Still at it! Will it ever stop? Why does NZ continue? Is this sort of emphatic disregard for human health that we have coming our way if NZ can get away with it? Then there is the horrible, cruel death of any and all oxygen breathing organisms …
I couldn’t agree more with the above comments. However, no one has appeared to touch on the future, we need to start to look at who to blame. Personally, I believe the bulk of the blame, when this stupidity has stopped, has to go on the New Zealand Health Authorities. There is enough scientific information (worldwide) that even a complete idiot would be able to see the huge risks to public health because of New Zealand’s aerial 1080 operations. The following statement was put out by Community Public Health West Coast in a submission to the West Coast Regional Council’s long term plan 2012-2022: “Health is increasingly recognized as not just the absence of disease, but is seen as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being where an individual is able to identify and realize aspirations, satisfy needs and change or cope with the environment.” So, I ask the question, where does the aerial poisoning of our environment in a widespread and continuous manner fit into that statement?
How can 1080 continue to be used by people who advertise themselves as a green country? As a fisherman who loved visiting years ago the appeal has gone!
Because this 1080 use by government agencies is so entrenched and those who oppose poisoning our beautiful country are disparaging labeled “the 1080” brigade, it would take a brave move by staunch MP’s to instigate change. Let’s have it! First acknowledge the existing highly qualified science from many countries throughout the world who have completely banned the use of 1080 and apply commonsense to the New Zealand situation. Ridding the country of those considered “pests” can be done with many of the modern trapping devices. Instead of spending millions on poisons, spend the money (much less) on traps – even pay field workers to set and monitor them, not just volunteers. Give jobs to the many out of work!
Here’s another way of looking at this.
I’m a Kiwi that lives in California.
I’m sure most of you shook your heads and thought how the hell could they stick a clown
Like Trump in office to run the country.
I look at New Zealand and think how the hell can they keep bombing there forests with 1080 and expect a sane result.
With the wholesale slaughter your doing in your backyard. Your the biggest hypocrite’s
Of all.
I need to write a book for New Zealand.
Idiots guide to looking after the bush.
Step one. Don’t kill everything in it.
There’s a start children.
Copying this from an email as I think it works here.
The Original Predator Free New Zealand, PFNZ, (non-toxin) submissions to the ‘People’s Inquiry 2021’;
Date, 16th January 2021
1)
Sodium Fluoroacetate, (1080) Material Safety Data Sheet, (MSDS), a legal document states four times it is a ‘Deadly Poison’.
It also states the following…….
1080 is ‘Acutely Toxic’ ~ ‘May be fatal if swallowed’. ‘Sodium fluoroacetate, (1080) may be absorbed through the eyes, broken skin or via the mouth’
‘Take all practicable steps to manage any harmful effects of a spillage including preventing baits entering streams and waterways’, it is ‘an eco-toxin’ (a toxin that is toxic to ecosystems) and that ‘1080 ‘wastes’ are also ecotoxic’.
It is ‘Harmful to aquatic organisms’ ~ ‘Avoid pollution of any water supply with pellets or used containers.
‘Give consideration to possible hazards from washing down and ensure people, pets, livestock, wildlife and fish will not be exposed to toxic run-off’.’
‘Take measures, where practical and necessary, to minimise harmful effects on aquatic environments and desirable species’.
‘This product is toxic to wildlife’ and ‘Toxic to terrestrial invertebrates’.
‘Sodium fluoroacetate may be present for many months in the carcasses of poisoned animals; thus presenting a secondary poisoning danger to carnivorous birds and mammals’ ~ ‘Although baits are not readily taken by native birds and mammals, those feeding on on carcasses of contaminated animals may be fatally poisoned ‘.
‘A single mouse poisoned by 1080 may contain enough poison to kill an adult dog’,
And last but not least, ‘Repeated oral exposure may cause reproductive or developmental damage’. Remember 245T any one?
How is it possible for any government to legally and morally continue to disperse/dump tens of thousands of tonnes of one of the world’s most deadly toxins, Sodium Fluoroacetate, 1080 throughout our forests and our fragile ecosystems every year?
Our government’s priority has to be, ‘FIRST DO NO HARM’.
It has been estimated that as little as 4 mgm, (4 millionth of a kilogram), will kill a child ~ “THERE IS NO ANTIDOTE !”.
2)
Sodium fluoroacetate was first registered as an insecticide in the United Kingdom/ Britain and quickly banned when it was found to kill with enthusiasm all living things that required oxygen to survive including insects, invertebrates, reptiles, butterflies, bees and birds, etc.
A 2020 meta-analysis published in the journal ‘Science’ found that globally, terrestrial insects appear to be declining at a frightening rate each decade.
Insects are at the structural and functional base of the world’s ecosystems and insect population declines have a detrimental effect on all ecosystems, including humans.
They are a food source for birds, reptiles, invertebrates and other insects, they dispose of biological wastes returning essential minerals to the flora of our forests so they can flourish, plus they are key pollinators.
Insect and invertebrate decline has an instrumental value in the decline of other species. Their decline will have a devastating non-regenerating effect on New Zealand’s native forests encouraging the loss of topsoils which will result in the silting up of our streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries, destroying our ability to produce sustainable renewable electricity generation.
3)
The Department of Conservation, (DoC) and its Minister continue to lie to the New Zealand public that there is no viable alternative to the dumping and spreading 1080 pellets throughout our conservation estate ~ there are two non-toxin alternatives. Trapping and shooting, they worked perfectly for decades prior to the bureaucratic toxin enablers taking control of the Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird and it appears the government.
Utilising these two past proven methods it would be possible to create a valuable wild possum fur/skin and meat export industry, (we would be the only country in the world to have this opportunity as possums are protected in their native Australia), producing export income instead of letting their poisoned carcasses rot on the forest floor.
Now that we have the benefit of the non-toxin self resetting trap technology it can be again, by an order of magnitude.
DoC and its Minister keep telling the New Zealand public that aerial dispersion of1080 pellets is the most economical method to save our wildlife and yet will not entertain a truly independent professional analysis/audit be undertaken of all of the accompanying costs. Such as the full cost of purchasing and shipping the original product and grain, the manufacture and storage of the pellets. The staffing in remote locations, their travel and accommodation, the freighting of the pellets to site, earthmoving equipment for site preparation and access roads and tracks, overseeing personnel, spare helicopter in case of engineering failure, security contracts, police attendance, accidental spillage clean up, injury and illness and staff replacement, postponement,(inclement weather), site remediation, public liability insurance, litigation costs, accidental stock, pets and people poisonings monetary compensation payments, (it has happened far too many times). WHY?
As an example, the accident that occurred May 2019 in Christchurch at the Kiwicare Bromley factory where it is suspected that Kiwicare were manufacturing 1080 illegally.
There was an explosion which resulted in a serious injury and perhaps a death? highlights the cavalier and criminal behaviour of participants within the ‘toxin industry’.
ps; At the time of this submission the Kiwicare Bromley site (which Fire & Emergency NZ have forbidden any FENZ personnel from entering the premises because of the extreme toxicological danger, even in the advent of a fire), after 20 months since time of accident has not been decontaminated thus exposing not only the local but the whole of Christchurch’s population to an incredibly unacceptable risk. “Worksafe” are still to report on the incident, after 20 months? (Ref; Our thanks to Carol Sawyer for her diligent questioning of relevant personel on this issue to finally get the facts, Lkl.)
4)
Through personal experience I can state that the spreading of 1080 aerially is having an undesirable effect on our international tourist industry. Tourists come to New Zealand because of our wonderful scenery and supposedly pristine environment, not to see the vast increase,(over the last 2 decades) of the red and white signage stating ‘Danger ~ Deadly Poisons” throughout our conservation estate. I have been told on many occasions by overseas tourists that there is no way would they drink or swim in our lakes or rivers and are horrified by our blatant disregard for their safety by dropping toxins throughout our tourism and water catchment areas. They did not expect to encounter such behavior here in New Zealand and ask, WHY DO WE DO IT?
One could expect that each of those disillusioned tourists will tell their friends and family on returning to their home country and the cumulative result will not be good for New Zealand’s tourist industry when we return to the new normal, as we will.
5)
With a worldwide awakening of having to do things differently, if we humans as a species are to survive. President Macron of France is proposing that the United Nations establish a crime of eco terroisim to stop countries destroying their ecosystems, for example President Bolsonaro of Brazil burning large tracts of the Amazon to increase agriculture production. It may be advantageous for New Zealand to rethink the use of the world’s most powerful insecticide before we are brought to the attention of the court of world public opinion.
With the increased use of 1080 over the last decade there is a very real risk of the toxin entering the food chain contaminating our export products, meat, milk powder, fish, cheese, etc; (it has happened fortunately on rare occasions, but with the vast increased use…?), irreparably damaging the ability of our food producers to sell their produce on the world market. Think DDT or 245T, the ‘salaried biased’ scientists told us they were safe to spread widely too.
6)
But more than that, 1080 does not work, if it did why is it necessary to continually keep using it in our forests in even greater amounts and concentrations?
In one of many reports, a December 4-6, 2008 research paper titled ‘Interactions of mammalian pest populations (rats) following control. Kararehe Kino vertebrate Pest research 13. Ruscoe W, Sweetapple P, Yockney I, Pech R, Barrow M, Cave S, Ramsay D. states, ‘ rat populations increased three-fold within 24 months after the drop date’.
The Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird along with the past Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Jan Wright statements that it works, there are no other alternatives and we are very lucky to have it ~ they are either very siloed or they are lying. 1080 efficacy is a fallacy.
7)
As New Zealanders we owe all of our animals whether pest or not, respect and dignity. Death by 1080 will take many cruel hours whether insect, bird, butterfly, lizard, dog, cow or human with the victim suffering hours of excruciating pain.
Geoff Booth in his paper; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/discussion-new-zealand-conservation-issues-around-1080-geoff-booth/ describes death by 1080………..
‘If you can imagine the worst epiletic seizure and multiply it by 1000 and draw it out to 6 to 12 hours then you have an idea of how horrific the death to 1080 actually is. Victims thrashing, shear off every internal organ, muscle and tendon from bones. The pain must be unimaginable and if you witness it you will carry the memory of the horror all your life’.
How can the SPCA and our government stand by and allow this to happen to literally hundreds of thousands of wild animals, birds, frogs, butterflies, bees, lizards,(our unique Tuatara), geckos, insects and indeed all living creatures every year within our unique native forests to suffer like this?
These are our forests, we New Zealanders own them, not the Government, not the Department of Conservation, they are custodians on our behalf. they do not own them ~ WE DO! They are obliged to do as we tell them!
Every sentient animal pest or non pest needs to be treated with respect, humility and humanely, as New Zealanders we have to demand it.
For our own morality and survival and that of future generations we have to stop this insanity. There are humane non-toxin alternatives, trialed and tested by the Department of Conservation that have been proven far superior which create vital ongoing bio-security that aerial dispersion of toxin does not, hence the need to keep applying more and more 1080 each year. It is a nonsense, it is criminal, because the 1080 material safety data sheet (MSDS), says so. The Department of Conservation, Ospri, TBfreeNZ, Orillion, Animal Health Board, Regional Councils around the country, Forest and Bird, the past and current Commissioner for the Environment, the Environment Protection Authority among others, are they breaking New Zealand’s law morally, by the letter of the law or both? An MSDS is a legal document.
Les Kelly; founder of predator free New Zealand (non-toxin), on behalf of the original & current predatorfreenz team.
I know only too well as a dog owner and angler, I went to fish the Aorere River in Golden Bay and every access seemed to have “Danger, 1080 Poison” signs. I was frustrated and angry. Dogs are very susceptible to 1080 even 12 months or more after the drops.
The same on the West Coast. The 1080 is a bad image and a deterrent to tourists. And Golly, the West Coast since covid needs Kiwis touring the region.
Stupid thing of it all is there is no justification by OSPRI for bovine TB “control” or DOC (the two big irresponsible poison spreaders) for poison. Possums do not carry TB. Besides NZ’s Tb infection is so low it is virtually nil, many times below the World Health Organisation rule of about 0.1/0.2 for being Tb-Free.
So are the politicians going to sit on their hands and let OSPRI and DOC bureaucracies waste taxpayer money while devastating the ecosystem and driving domestic Kiwi tourists away? I won’t be visiting the West Coast.
What is West Coast MP Damien O’Connor doing?
The only MP awake to the stupidity/danger is National’s Maureen Pugh.
NZs claim of clean and green is 100% pure bullshit.
The failure of our elected MP’s to stop the helicopter and ground poisoning with 1080 and similar poisons is largely due to a relentless propaganda campaign by MPI’s TBfree / OSPRI, the Department of Conservation (DoC) Forest & Bird and others who profit from the poisoning. It’s a classic case of “Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister” politics.
Over $100 Million dollars is wasted annually so gullible politicians can grandstand about biosecurity and how they are saving rare native birds. It’s a con, a sting, a fraud. Some of the propagandists know it but they don’t care. They would lose their jobs if they questioned. Damien O’Connor is too proud to admit he has been conned. “There is no “Yes Minister ” with me he told me. Yes Maureen Pugh knows 1080 is responsible for killing native birds and not necessary for TB biosecurity but she is so far down the National Party peck order she would lose her seat if she pushed Ban 1080 too hard.
Maybe our new Minister of Conservation Kiri Allen will be smart and tough enough to end this 1080 poison fraud. Already her advisors will be seducing her with warm fuzzies about Predator Free 2050 and what a heroine she will be if she rubber stamps the poison campaigns. Well she works for us, not a handful of over paid heads of departments. Isn’t that why we elect MP’s ?
This will never change while this Agenda 21/30 is in play so we must all wake up and do away with the UN for a start but this Government won’t do that. It needs a revolution to change things so we must all demand this. Besides the damage to the bush just think of the harm to humans let alone the animals from the toxic runoff. If we want NZ to be safe again we have to take control.
I encountered the same situation as Shelby Wright. I love taking my labrador fishing but so often I’ve had to leave him/her behind. I once fished Stoney creek (a tributary of the Inanaghua) near Reefton after a 1080 drop. I left my lab behind of course. Stony Creek was like a morgue- silent and spooky.
I fled it and fished the Waitahu River nearby which hadn’t been poisoned at the time. The bird life was prolific.
Yes the justification for 1080 lacks. NZ is Tb free and has been for years. OSPRI is a big con on the public. DOC knows from research (Ruscoe 2007) that after 1080 the 20% surviving rats boom and end up 4 years later being 400% original pre-poison numbers. How stupid (or deceitful) can DOC be?
Environmental genocide.
1. Pets and stock killed by 1080. When compensated, a form is signed not acknowledging
1080
2. The Grafs brothers documentary is not shown on Television.
So the government knows 1080 is unethical and responds in like.
1080 kills everything.
Well done New Zealand.
1080 on the land and corporate quotas on the ocean for export.
You’ve got it covered.
You sure know how to screw up a island with environmental genocide.
THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO POISON NEW ZEALAND WILL SOON BE CONSIDERED TO BE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE GESTAPO – OR WORSE!
MY WIFE I HAVE OWNED A SIGNIFICANT PART OF TAUMATA LAGOON IN THE WAIRARAPA SINCE 1992 AND WE, WITH THE AID OF THE GREATER WELLINGTON REGIONAL COUNCIL, ELIMINATED CLOSE TO 10.000 PREDATORS.
THE RESULT BEING A MASS OF NATIVE & WETLAND & BUSH BIRDS.
PS
PS:
WHEN DOC WAS CREATED EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA – LARGELY BECAUSE MANY FORMER WILDLIFE SERVICE STAFF WOULD BE PART OF DOC! AND SO IT CAME TO PASS! EXEPT THAT THE WILDLIFE SERVICE STAFF WERE TREATED LIKE CRAP AND ALL BUT DON MERTON SURVIVED FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. DON WAS A GOOD FRIENED, BUT HE HATED BEING INVOLVED WITH DOC; WHERE 90% PLUS KNEW NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING. THERE’S LOTS ABOUT DON ON THE INTERNET.
MPI, DOC & OSPRI bureaucrats unwelcome in local diner!
Clean Green New Zealand – yeah right! (Tui advert for the new year)
…and here it is
The West Coast of the South Island is a beautiful place to visit…. if you are a deaf person. Otherwise it is just upsetting. It is the most perfect illustration of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” that I have ever come across. All thanks to decades of constant aerial 1080 poisoning by the NZ government.
Yup. Well, the people of NZ who voted for any Govt that allowed this need no complain. They are all responsible, or should I say irresponsible! It brasses me no end that people have been warning for years about this. It always seems to be – destroy one evil using another. I’m fed up with this BS…time to dump some friggn 1080 around the friggn beehive and all the politicians gardens. C’mon NZ…rise up and let’s do something about this!
~Moderator Comment
Whilst we can understand the frustration brought about by this topic, in no way can we condone any such actions as suggested here
Unfortunately NZ”s ecosystem is totally destroyed. The people there have been lied to by their government. Media blackout on the truth about 1080 and other lethal pesticides and toxins is the norm. Children have been brainwashed. Animals have been cruelly killed. The once incredible trout fishing has been destroyed. I, for one, do my best to let other folks know that they are wasting their time and money traveling to NZ. I experienced NZ in a better time. I traveled all over NZ through the years, for decades. But my last trip there 2 yrs ago showed me that those days are forever gone….and I left earlier than planned. It was disgusting to know what the NZ government has done to a once beautiful country. The very people who have tried relentlessly to warn people there, what the truth is, and who have tried to save Nature’s beauty, have been disrespected, when they should have been praised….I honor them…and the people of NZ need to do the same. Tony Orman, Carol Sawyer, the Graf brothers, Dave Witherow, and to the many who participated in the fight against 1080, just to name a few, have put their reputations out on a limb to warn NZers….they are the ones who have been paying attention and trying to save NZ…..everyone else just marched along with blinders on…collecting their paychecks while being part of the destruction of what used to be a beautiful country. Shame on them. Shame on the NZ government.
https://www.flydreamers.com/en/articles/new-zealand-the-poisoned-nation-a1745#ref=search/results
Yes, Aerial 1080 is New Zealand’s greatest contribution towards mankind’s ultimate disgrace. Trying to create a designer ecosystem, with its foundations built on the mistakes of the past.
Using a cruel, broad spectrum toxin, aerially spread indiscriminately by helicopter .. thousands of tonnes of it, spread across millions of hectares .. at huge cost to us (taxpayers) .. killing target and non-target species alike. Indeed, everything that consumes oxygen.
Poison rain.
Instead of coming to terms with the fact we are nature’s greatest fu#kup .. and the best thing we can do is just STOP.
Instead, we barge on.
If we don’t like it .. for whatever of our own, indulgent purposes .. change it.
No matter how futile.
Fu#kup upon fu#kup.
Watch Sir David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Planet”.
We have to change our ways.
We don’t have much time left, if we are going to take a different path .. to try and lead ourselves to our own salvation …
(Personally, I support .. and am actively involved in .. population management of problematic introduced species, using traditional methods. The only acceptable methods are those effective on specific target species. without causing a heinous, cruel death, and posing little or no risk to non-target, intended beneficiary, native species.
Aerial 1080 fails miserably against these conditions.
I am therefore one of a growing number of people I know who no longer participate in Possum control .. which I have spent decades doing, at every opportunity .. in areas where Aerial 1080 *cannot* be used. This is purely a protest against Aerial 1080. It is also in recognition that, for many, Possums are a Valued Introduced Species .. valued for vocational and recreational purposes, centred around skin and fur recovery. We do not want to see species becoming rare and endangered, in our country .. so, and I never thought I would see the day .. we must start practicing conservation of Valued Introduced Species.)
Still at it! Will it ever stop? Why does NZ continue? Is this sort of emphatic disregard for human health that we have coming our way if NZ can get away with it? Then there is the horrible, cruel death of any and all oxygen breathing organisms …
I couldn’t agree more with the above comments. However, no one has appeared to touch on the future, we need to start to look at who to blame. Personally, I believe the bulk of the blame, when this stupidity has stopped, has to go on the New Zealand Health Authorities. There is enough scientific information (worldwide) that even a complete idiot would be able to see the huge risks to public health because of New Zealand’s aerial 1080 operations. The following statement was put out by Community Public Health West Coast in a submission to the West Coast Regional Council’s long term plan 2012-2022: “Health is increasingly recognized as not just the absence of disease, but is seen as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being where an individual is able to identify and realize aspirations, satisfy needs and change or cope with the environment.” So, I ask the question, where does the aerial poisoning of our environment in a widespread and continuous manner fit into that statement?
Many a true word..
…or a picture is worth 1000 words
How can 1080 continue to be used by people who advertise themselves as a green country? As a fisherman who loved visiting years ago the appeal has gone!
Because this 1080 use by government agencies is so entrenched and those who oppose poisoning our beautiful country are disparaging labeled “the 1080” brigade, it would take a brave move by staunch MP’s to instigate change. Let’s have it! First acknowledge the existing highly qualified science from many countries throughout the world who have completely banned the use of 1080 and apply commonsense to the New Zealand situation. Ridding the country of those considered “pests” can be done with many of the modern trapping devices. Instead of spending millions on poisons, spend the money (much less) on traps – even pay field workers to set and monitor them, not just volunteers. Give jobs to the many out of work!
Here’s another way of looking at this.
I’m a Kiwi that lives in California.
I’m sure most of you shook your heads and thought how the hell could they stick a clown
Like Trump in office to run the country.
I look at New Zealand and think how the hell can they keep bombing there forests with 1080 and expect a sane result.
With the wholesale slaughter your doing in your backyard. Your the biggest hypocrite’s
Of all.
I need to write a book for New Zealand.
Idiots guide to looking after the bush.
Step one. Don’t kill everything in it.
There’s a start children.
Copying this from an email as I think it works here.
The Original Predator Free New Zealand, PFNZ, (non-toxin) submissions to the ‘People’s Inquiry 2021’;
Date, 16th January 2021
1)
Sodium Fluoroacetate, (1080) Material Safety Data Sheet, (MSDS), a legal document states four times it is a ‘Deadly Poison’.
It also states the following…….
1080 is ‘Acutely Toxic’ ~ ‘May be fatal if swallowed’. ‘Sodium fluoroacetate, (1080) may be absorbed through the eyes, broken skin or via the mouth’
‘Take all practicable steps to manage any harmful effects of a spillage including preventing baits entering streams and waterways’, it is ‘an eco-toxin’ (a toxin that is toxic to ecosystems) and that ‘1080 ‘wastes’ are also ecotoxic’.
It is ‘Harmful to aquatic organisms’ ~ ‘Avoid pollution of any water supply with pellets or used containers.
‘Give consideration to possible hazards from washing down and ensure people, pets, livestock, wildlife and fish will not be exposed to toxic run-off’.’
‘Take measures, where practical and necessary, to minimise harmful effects on aquatic environments and desirable species’.
‘This product is toxic to wildlife’ and ‘Toxic to terrestrial invertebrates’.
‘Sodium fluoroacetate may be present for many months in the carcasses of poisoned animals; thus presenting a secondary poisoning danger to carnivorous birds and mammals’ ~ ‘Although baits are not readily taken by native birds and mammals, those feeding on on carcasses of contaminated animals may be fatally poisoned ‘.
‘A single mouse poisoned by 1080 may contain enough poison to kill an adult dog’,
And last but not least, ‘Repeated oral exposure may cause reproductive or developmental damage’. Remember 245T any one?
How is it possible for any government to legally and morally continue to disperse/dump tens of thousands of tonnes of one of the world’s most deadly toxins, Sodium Fluoroacetate, 1080 throughout our forests and our fragile ecosystems every year?
Our government’s priority has to be, ‘FIRST DO NO HARM’.
It has been estimated that as little as 4 mgm, (4 millionth of a kilogram), will kill a child ~ “THERE IS NO ANTIDOTE !”.
2)
Sodium fluoroacetate was first registered as an insecticide in the United Kingdom/ Britain and quickly banned when it was found to kill with enthusiasm all living things that required oxygen to survive including insects, invertebrates, reptiles, butterflies, bees and birds, etc.
A 2020 meta-analysis published in the journal ‘Science’ found that globally, terrestrial insects appear to be declining at a frightening rate each decade.
Insects are at the structural and functional base of the world’s ecosystems and insect population declines have a detrimental effect on all ecosystems, including humans.
They are a food source for birds, reptiles, invertebrates and other insects, they dispose of biological wastes returning essential minerals to the flora of our forests so they can flourish, plus they are key pollinators.
Insect and invertebrate decline has an instrumental value in the decline of other species. Their decline will have a devastating non-regenerating effect on New Zealand’s native forests encouraging the loss of topsoils which will result in the silting up of our streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries, destroying our ability to produce sustainable renewable electricity generation.
3)
The Department of Conservation, (DoC) and its Minister continue to lie to the New Zealand public that there is no viable alternative to the dumping and spreading 1080 pellets throughout our conservation estate ~ there are two non-toxin alternatives. Trapping and shooting, they worked perfectly for decades prior to the bureaucratic toxin enablers taking control of the Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird and it appears the government.
Utilising these two past proven methods it would be possible to create a valuable wild possum fur/skin and meat export industry, (we would be the only country in the world to have this opportunity as possums are protected in their native Australia), producing export income instead of letting their poisoned carcasses rot on the forest floor.
Now that we have the benefit of the non-toxin self resetting trap technology it can be again, by an order of magnitude.
DoC and its Minister keep telling the New Zealand public that aerial dispersion of1080 pellets is the most economical method to save our wildlife and yet will not entertain a truly independent professional analysis/audit be undertaken of all of the accompanying costs. Such as the full cost of purchasing and shipping the original product and grain, the manufacture and storage of the pellets. The staffing in remote locations, their travel and accommodation, the freighting of the pellets to site, earthmoving equipment for site preparation and access roads and tracks, overseeing personnel, spare helicopter in case of engineering failure, security contracts, police attendance, accidental spillage clean up, injury and illness and staff replacement, postponement,(inclement weather), site remediation, public liability insurance, litigation costs, accidental stock, pets and people poisonings monetary compensation payments, (it has happened far too many times). WHY?
As an example, the accident that occurred May 2019 in Christchurch at the Kiwicare Bromley factory where it is suspected that Kiwicare were manufacturing 1080 illegally.
There was an explosion which resulted in a serious injury and perhaps a death? highlights the cavalier and criminal behaviour of participants within the ‘toxin industry’.
ps; At the time of this submission the Kiwicare Bromley site (which Fire & Emergency NZ have forbidden any FENZ personnel from entering the premises because of the extreme toxicological danger, even in the advent of a fire), after 20 months since time of accident has not been decontaminated thus exposing not only the local but the whole of Christchurch’s population to an incredibly unacceptable risk. “Worksafe” are still to report on the incident, after 20 months? (Ref; Our thanks to Carol Sawyer for her diligent questioning of relevant personel on this issue to finally get the facts, Lkl.)
4)
Through personal experience I can state that the spreading of 1080 aerially is having an undesirable effect on our international tourist industry. Tourists come to New Zealand because of our wonderful scenery and supposedly pristine environment, not to see the vast increase,(over the last 2 decades) of the red and white signage stating ‘Danger ~ Deadly Poisons” throughout our conservation estate. I have been told on many occasions by overseas tourists that there is no way would they drink or swim in our lakes or rivers and are horrified by our blatant disregard for their safety by dropping toxins throughout our tourism and water catchment areas. They did not expect to encounter such behavior here in New Zealand and ask, WHY DO WE DO IT?
One could expect that each of those disillusioned tourists will tell their friends and family on returning to their home country and the cumulative result will not be good for New Zealand’s tourist industry when we return to the new normal, as we will.
5)
With a worldwide awakening of having to do things differently, if we humans as a species are to survive. President Macron of France is proposing that the United Nations establish a crime of eco terroisim to stop countries destroying their ecosystems, for example President Bolsonaro of Brazil burning large tracts of the Amazon to increase agriculture production. It may be advantageous for New Zealand to rethink the use of the world’s most powerful insecticide before we are brought to the attention of the court of world public opinion.
With the increased use of 1080 over the last decade there is a very real risk of the toxin entering the food chain contaminating our export products, meat, milk powder, fish, cheese, etc; (it has happened fortunately on rare occasions, but with the vast increased use…?), irreparably damaging the ability of our food producers to sell their produce on the world market. Think DDT or 245T, the ‘salaried biased’ scientists told us they were safe to spread widely too.
6)
But more than that, 1080 does not work, if it did why is it necessary to continually keep using it in our forests in even greater amounts and concentrations?
In one of many reports, a December 4-6, 2008 research paper titled ‘Interactions of mammalian pest populations (rats) following control. Kararehe Kino vertebrate Pest research 13. Ruscoe W, Sweetapple P, Yockney I, Pech R, Barrow M, Cave S, Ramsay D. states, ‘ rat populations increased three-fold within 24 months after the drop date’.
The Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird along with the past Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Jan Wright statements that it works, there are no other alternatives and we are very lucky to have it ~ they are either very siloed or they are lying. 1080 efficacy is a fallacy.
7)
As New Zealanders we owe all of our animals whether pest or not, respect and dignity. Death by 1080 will take many cruel hours whether insect, bird, butterfly, lizard, dog, cow or human with the victim suffering hours of excruciating pain.
Geoff Booth in his paper; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/discussion-new-zealand-conservation-issues-around-1080-geoff-booth/ describes death by 1080………..
‘If you can imagine the worst epiletic seizure and multiply it by 1000 and draw it out to 6 to 12 hours then you have an idea of how horrific the death to 1080 actually is. Victims thrashing, shear off every internal organ, muscle and tendon from bones. The pain must be unimaginable and if you witness it you will carry the memory of the horror all your life’.
How can the SPCA and our government stand by and allow this to happen to literally hundreds of thousands of wild animals, birds, frogs, butterflies, bees, lizards,(our unique Tuatara), geckos, insects and indeed all living creatures every year within our unique native forests to suffer like this?
These are our forests, we New Zealanders own them, not the Government, not the Department of Conservation, they are custodians on our behalf. they do not own them ~ WE DO! They are obliged to do as we tell them!
Every sentient animal pest or non pest needs to be treated with respect, humility and humanely, as New Zealanders we have to demand it.
For our own morality and survival and that of future generations we have to stop this insanity. There are humane non-toxin alternatives, trialed and tested by the Department of Conservation that have been proven far superior which create vital ongoing bio-security that aerial dispersion of toxin does not, hence the need to keep applying more and more 1080 each year. It is a nonsense, it is criminal, because the 1080 material safety data sheet (MSDS), says so. The Department of Conservation, Ospri, TBfreeNZ, Orillion, Animal Health Board, Regional Councils around the country, Forest and Bird, the past and current Commissioner for the Environment, the Environment Protection Authority among others, are they breaking New Zealand’s law morally, by the letter of the law or both? An MSDS is a legal document.
Les Kelly; founder of predator free New Zealand (non-toxin), on behalf of the original & current predatorfreenz team.