An article on Radio NZ by journalist Lois Williams has reported deep concern by the West Coast Regional Council of a “plague of feral deer.”
Controlling the “plague of feral deer” on the West Coast and where the money required will come from is perplexing the council.
The council’s Environmental Management committee recently held a meeting in Greymouth on Thursday, where the matter was discussed.
Chief Executive Darryl Lew said the council was due to embark on a review of its pest management plan, which did not currently include pest animals.
“If we were to add animals in, where’s the funding coming from?,” he asked and suggested setting up a “working group” committee.
He said OSPRI – (funded by farmers and the government) was now pulling back its pest control operations on the Coast, as bovine TB was brought under control.
“That does leave a gap and the prospect of the feral animals really exploding… so, there is a big conversation coming up.”
Councillor Allan Birchfield said he was opposed to the Regional Council taking on the deer problem and said the animals were coming from public lands administered by the Department of Conservation..
CEO Lew said he fully agreed with councillor Birchfield and called for ”a massive conversation with the Government and the Department of Conservation ” and agreed that “most of the ungulates are coming out of the Conservation estate onto farmland.”
Councillor Peter Ewen said DOC had more or less “flown the white flag” over deer and admitted they were out of control.
“They haven’t go the financing so we want at the outset to have a real hard discussion with the Minister of Conservation. Something’s got to change and it’s up to the Government to come up with the money. Or we scrap DOC and come up with another Pest Destruction Board or something and the Government funds that. Because that’s how serious the problem is..and it will rapidly trend up.”
Another councillor said there have been no deer problem back in the 1970s and the days of the wild venison industry before the advent of 1080.
The Deer “Problem” We Created: How 1080 Destroyed a Working Solution
A comment on the West Coast Regional Council’s deer dilemma
The West Coast Regional Council’s hand-wringing over deer populations would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. Councillors are now scrambling to find funding for deer control, with Peter Ewen declaring DOC has “flown the white flag” and calling for massive government intervention. Yet one councillor inadvertently revealed the truth: there were no deer problems back in the 1970s, during the days of the wild venison industry—before the widespread use of 1080.
This isn’t coincidence. It’s cause and effect.
When Market Forces Worked
In the 1960s and 1970s, New Zealand had discovered something remarkable: a self-funding solution to deer control that actually worked. Commercial helicopter hunting had become a thriving industry. By 1970, more than 60 helicopters were operating across the country, with crews retrieving 100-200 deer per day. At the peak in 1973, New Zealand exported 3,500 tonnes of wild venison from approximately 140,000 carcasses, primarily to Germany and other European markets.
This wasn’t government-funded pest control requiring ratepayer money or complex bureaucratic oversight. This was private enterprise doing what government cullers could never accomplish. By 1976, government deer culling operations had dwindled to fewer than 7,000 animals annually—down from 62,500 in 1957—because commercial hunters had essentially taken over the job and were doing it better, faster, and at no cost to taxpayers.
The wild venison trade kept deer populations in check while generating substantial export income. Hunters had every incentive to maintain sustainable populations in their hunting areas. The system worked.
Enter 1080: The Industry Killer
Then came the poison. As 1080 aerial drops became increasingly widespread for possum control from the 1980s onwards, the unintended consequences began to mount. Yes, 1080 was primarily targeted at possums for bovine TB control, but this indiscriminate poison doesn’t discriminate. Deer, like any mammal requiring oxygen, are killed by 1080. They die slowly, agonisingly—veterinarians have likened it to being electrocuted for two days straight.
But the death of individual deer wasn’t the real problem for population control. The catastrophic blow came in 2001 when the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry recalled an entire shipment of wild venison destined for Germany after discovering the meat came from an area where 1080 had been used. Although the meat tested negative for contamination, the incident triggered a suspension of all feral-venison recovery and sent shockwaves through New Zealand’s entire deer industry.
The damage was done. International buyers, particularly in quality European markets, became wary of wild New Zealand venison. How could you market premium “clean, green” venison when there was any possibility it contained residues of a toxin so potent it’s banned in most countries? As one industry expert noted: “Our entire agricultural trade is based on consumer perception, regardless of whether this perception is based on facts or not.”
The wild venison export trade collapsed virtually overnight. West Coast farmers remember it clearly: “In the 1970s and ’80s, deer were no threat, because the wild venison export trade was booming and helicopter hunters kept the numbers down. But then DOC started using 1080 for pest control, and it killed the export trade overnight.”
The Irony of It All
Let’s be clear about the bitter irony here: 1080 is aerial-dropped to control possums and protect farming interests from bovine TB. Yet in doing so, it destroyed the one effective, self-funding mechanism that kept deer populations under control—deer that are now devastating farmland, destroying Conservation estate, and costing farmers and councils millions.
DOC uses 1080 ostensibly to protect native species and ecosystems, yet deer populations have exploded in Conservation estate areas, causing the very environmental damage 1080 was supposedly preventing. Meanwhile, the poison kills native birds, insects, and any other creatures unfortunate enough to encounter it. New Zealand uses 80-90% of the world’s entire 1080 production, saturating vast areas of the country with a toxin that has no antidote and kills anything that needs oxygen.
The West Coast councillors are right to point the finger at DOC and Conservation lands as the source of the deer invasion onto farmland. But they’re missing the bigger picture: DOC’s 1080 programme isn’t just failing to control deer—it’s the reason we need to control them in the first place.
What Was Lost
When we destroyed the wild venison industry, we lost more than export income and jobs. We lost:
– **A self-funding pest control system** that required no government or ratepayer money
– **Economic opportunities** for rural communities and helicopter operators
– **Effective population management** that kept deer at sustainable levels without bureaucratic intervention
– **A premium export product** that showcased New Zealand’s natural resources
– **Generational knowledge and expertise** in sustainable wild game management
Now we’re left with exploding deer populations, councils arguing over who should pay for control, and government agencies admitting they don’t have the resources to manage the problem they helped create.
The Path Forward
There are voices calling for a return to commercial wild venison harvesting. The economics could work: quality wild venison can command premium prices in international markets, and helicopter recovery could be viable again if we could guarantee product safety and quality.
But here’s the rub: as long as 1080 continues to be broadcast across vast tracts of New Zealand, the spectre of contamination will hang over any wild venison product. No commercial operator wants to risk their reputation and business on meat that might—however unlikely—contain traces of a banned toxin. No international buyer wants to take that chance with their customers.
The solution stares us in the face, yet seems politically impossible: end the 1080 programme, reinstate commercial wild venison recovery, and let market forces and private enterprise do what government agencies manifestly cannot—control deer populations effectively and sustainably.
Instead, we’ll likely see more hand-wringing, more calls for government funding, more bureaucratic working groups, and more deer. Because that’s what happens when you kill a working solution with indiscriminate poison, then wonder why the problem you created won’t go away.
The West Coast councillors are right to be concerned. They’re right to demand government action. But until we’re willing to acknowledge that 1080 is the problem, not the solution, we’ll continue this expensive, ineffective charade while our deer populations—and the damage they cause—continue to explode.
We had a solution in the 1970s. We poisoned it. Literally.
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For those interested in the history of New Zealand’s wild venison industry and the impact of 1080, the research is readily available. The “Deer Wars” of the 1970s, the 2001 venison recall crisis, and the ongoing debate over 1080 use are all well-documented. The facts speak for themselves—if we’re willing to listen.
Access, access, access, that and treating firearms owners like second class citizens has not helped at all.
David Rhodes has got that bang on. It was hard going to try and find a deer back in the 60s and early seventies, the massive poisoning program has stuffed more than the export venison industry.
I wonder if people are too reactive to seeing deer, i.e. the “anti-introduced wild animal phobia” that US scientist Dr. William Graf identified as afflicting NZ departments and many people.
I recall seeing wild deer from the highway in Scotland, seeing wild deer in Oregon and Vermont in the US from roads and in farmland.
Nevertheless is not the solution in farmers’ hands to cull the deer and give the venison to family, friends and also to let genuine sportsman like hunters in to hunt their farms?
A bit like some who see a couple of rabbits and say there’s thousands of them.
You are correct Joe, people see a deer or possum then say there are thousands. The people who have jobs in this industry have been exaggerating deer and possum numbers for years, they don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story! They need politicians to give them money, every year, to keep this rort going, a nice outdoor job for people in Government and Councils and great money for Poison Contractors. It ‘s a text book case of “Yes Minister” politics, a text book case of propaganda, insider trading and corruption. It’s been documented in 13 books and debated for years on Social Media. The peak number of wild deer exported from NZ was 140,000 animals in 1973. Within a few years that number was down to 10.000 yet we still have MPI, DoC and Landcare Research claiming that 120,000 deer are harvested annually. That number is nonsense as anyone close to the industry knows. There is NO nation wide explosion of deer or possums or birds or frogs or insects because successful 1080 poisoning kills 80-100 % of everything which breathes oxygen. That’s been shown in plenty of Government funded studies and is backed up by the personal observations of citizen scientists, and outdoors people who are NOT on the MPI, DoC or Poison Industry payroll. The only places where wild deer are easily seen is where they are protected by farmers or Forestry managers who restrict the access of serious hunters.
Some people are surprised at the recent allegations of senior Police lying. Not me, because I’ve worked in the Government, in the deer and possum control industry
I was so disgusted with the incompetence and corruption I left. There are few prizes for whistle blowers. I rest my case.
This will end up being a classic case of going a full circle like baggy jeans and music made by instruments and vocal chords
I believe we will see a push to use local hunters once again but they won’t hunt animals in large numbers until ten eighty prohibited areas for recovery are removed. The only solution to that is the removal of the use of ten eighty. Sooner or later some Polly will come up with a great idea, run with it, claim it as their own when in fact it will be modelled on the 60s 70s and 80s game freezer and wild meat recovery industry