A New Zealander whose name I have on record, relates a story of his lucky escape from 1080 poisoning during the 1980s. He reflects on how he could have gone the same way as his three dogs all tragically poisoned by 1080 pellets …. one he had to shoot to put out of its misery.

“During the 1980s I was living on a ten acre block bordering native forest and Lake Taupo above the cliffs adjacent to the Waihi waterfall. They put a sign up saying 1080 had been dropped but at that time there were no media explanations about how 1080 worked and they said it was for rats and possums only. I’d never really heard about 1080. I came across a deer that looked like it had just died. It was in prime condition and I was wondering if 1080 worked like cyanide in which case I was going to take some meat home for the table. While I was making up my mind my dog started running around in circles and the blood vessels in his eyes started exploding. There was a deathly silence. No birds nothing. I looked at the deer and it’s eyes were the same as my dog. My dog saved my whole family. That day is emblazoned in my mind and I will never forget it as long as I live. I thought that I had stumbled into hell. I went into the bush with three dogs that day and came out with none. I just didn’t see what happened to the other two.
The emotional anguish I felt that day is right up there with the worst experiences of my unsheltered life. It was decades later that I educated myself totally about 1080 and realized how lucky I was that I never chopped some meat off that deer. We were on rainwater from our roof and our house was meters from the bush edge but they only dropped on the other side of the state highway where there were no buildings.

DOC can say what it likes.

I don’t believe them because I have seen the truth.”

Note: Peter if you see this please get in touch

Visit our page titled ‘NZ’s Silent Forests – Where Have All the Birds Gone?’ for further observations on topic. If you have noticed similar in your neck of the woods, do let us know. We can highlight that on the page. Use the contact page. EWNZ

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The Dir General of DoC claims 1080 doesn’t kill non-target species whilst DoC’s own studies show it does

Photo credit: Clyde Graf