These images were captured in the Taupo Region in 2016, images of contorted deer that have died a slow agonizing death from 1080 poisoning. For over 50 years the New Zealand Government has been systematically dropping massive amounts of food, laced with this cruel and universally toxic poison into its forest ecosystems. Enough poison every year to kill the entire population of NZ four times over. No other country is doing, or ever has done, anything remotely similar on such a scale.
A vet has told us that a typical death from 1080 is like TWO DAYS of slow electrocution. In addition as per this video mothers die with their young or sometimes their surviving young are left to die from starvation. In a bungled Turangi aerial drop, four horses died, one of which had coughed up its own lungs reports Reihana Robinson in her book The Killing Nation! The Animal Welfare Act was tweaked to allow this kind of animal death with 1080 poisoning. See below how long the other animals take to die, some of them non-target of course, although DoC would have you believe, in spite of their own documentation stating otherwise, that non-target animals do not die in 1080 drops:
(From Fishing & Outdoors, April 2018 edition)
The three shareholders by the way, should you feel inclined to contact them, are Beef & Lamb NZ Ltd, Dairy NZ and Deer Industry NZ. (OSPRI NZ is Operational Solutions for Primary Industries).
On the 13th July 2016, together with a few friends, we went to the site of a 50,000 hectare 1080 poison drop in Central North Island, NZ. This is our story. Everything you see is exactly how it was.
Note, there is no antidote to 1080 & a retired NZ Doctor has spoken out and said if you die of the poison nobody will know because Doctors are bullied by the MOH into NOT testing for 1080.
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the news page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing, on the actual post’s page, copy & past the url to your facebook page)
The nasty part is that brodifacoum, a poison graded 8/10 for its ability to cause animal suffering, needed to be introduced first to kill pests inside the fence. It also killed native birds including weka and pukeko.
Do the ends justify the means? A human equivalent would be if a ruling party decided to clear out a country, exterminating all unwanted people and restocking with different people who are representatives of a “chosen race”. Wait a minute, hasn’t that been done before?
Andrea Midgen, chief executive of the SPCA, recently spoke out about the associated animal cruelty saying, “1080 (and other poisons) causes intense, prolonged suffering to animals and therefore we cannot support its use”.
We recently posted a story about Joel Lund of Wanaka who while attending a local function, chanced upon Lou Sanson, the CE of NZ’s Department of Conservation (DoC). As anyone would, Joel made the most of that random opportunity to ask him some questions. It’s getting pretty difficult to dialogue with any DoC staff these days going by reports I’m hearing where folk with standard questions about impending drops get the short shift & are promptly hung up on. So Joel asked the CE some pertinent questions on the use of aerial 1080, particularly the use of alternatives. This move on Joel’s part has since been decried in social media however because as it transpires, the CE was actually attending a funeral. He’s been reported as saying it was a reluctant ‘interview’ & considered inappropriate.
As unfortunate as the setting may have been & with all due respects to the grieving, nevertheless indifference to human feelings goes with the territory of a corporation … an entity that exists for profit only … owing no allegiance to humans whatsoever…
“Corporations are required by law to place the financial interests of their owners above competing interests. They are legally bound to put their bottom line ahead of everything else, even the public good” (Noam Chomsky, ‘The Corporation’).
A corporation has been defined as “… a business structure whose sole reason for existence is the earning of profits by manufacturing products for as little as possible and selling them for as much as possible. It does not matter whether the product does good or evil; what counts is that it be consumed – in ever-increasing quantities” (Barnet & Muller, ‘Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations’ p24)
Corporations are analyzed in this documentary using the World Health Organization’s personality diagnostic checklist & are found to exhibit all the traits of a psychopathic personality. The Corporation movie is your Corporations 101 class, an absolute must watch. Viewing it will connect many dots for you and explain much about the state the world is in today. The psychopathic diagnosis checklist for this disorder includes the following:
A callous unconcern for the feelings of others
An incapacity to maintain enduring relationships
A reckless disregard for the safety of others
Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit
An incapacity to experience guilt
Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior
Sept 2018 saw a turnout of thousands at the culmination of a hikoi from the North & South of NZ
All sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it when you consider what we’ve been up against with regard to any negotiation over 1080 poison drops on our land, water and food. So, in light of all of the above, is the CE bothered about the two South Island women showered with 1080 pellets whilst out picnicking or their subsequent ongoing health issues? It would seem not. Was he concerned that the NZ lab lost a young hiker’s heart who according to her Doctor, may have been poisoned by 1080? It appears not as there are still no answers forthcoming on that one. Is he concerned at all about the Putaruru family who may have been poisoned by his corporation’s favorite poison? Or that the hospital did not test them in a timely fashion as recommended by the health professionals attending them? It would seem not. And what of the recent risk of 1080 in Auckland’s water supply? No again. Is he bothered that thousands of target and non-target animals and other wildlife die very long and agonizing deaths following his corporation’s ongoing 1080 drops? Or is he concerned that according to the late Dr Peter Scanlon 1080 may have been implicated in causing a cluster of miscarriages, stillbirths and congenital malformations to the children of pregnant women following aerial drops on the Whanganui River? Or that the data sheet of his corporation’s poison says not to drop it into waterways?
I don’t think so. His first & foremost allegiance is to the corporation he serves and not to the public of NZ. And after all our country itself is a corporation is it not? How can a corporation function as a democracy & thereby be considerate of the wishes of its citizens?
So if this is the modus operandi that corporations operate under, then why the surprise or offense from corporates about the setting of an impromptu interview when you clearly get what you give? Of all people they know the rules of engagement. Methinks it is more about diversion from the real issue at hand for the NZers who would like to decline the option of 1080 in their food chain.
Remember the CE of Nestlé’s notorious statement about water not being a human right? This is the mentality we are dealing with here.
Water is not a human right? Yet it is a corporate right to take it, bottle it and sell it back to us? Similarly it is their right to drop the ecotoxin 1080 directly into our waterways?
Make no mistake, corporations do not care about you. Profits are their only concern. Remember the recent helicopter entourage of 30 international bankers including the head of Goldman Sachs escorted by Lou Sanson over Fiordland? At the bottom of that one was the intriguing Nature Conservancy group ... for-profit corporations partnering with environmental organizations … known today as ‘greenwash’. Dirty corporations like Dow that are as much about conservation as pigs are about flying. ‘Conservation’ for profit. On that topic, consider the revelations of a former Taupo Mayor who exposed the gravy train that 1080 is, who did have a go at eliminating the poison, to no avail unfortunately. Mayors who are generally on as little as one third that of their CEs’ salaries clearly have no more voting power than the councilors who agree with them.
I reiterate, please do watch ‘The Corporation’ movie. If the entire planet stopped buying their stuff they would collapse overnight.
They rely on your patronage to continue their obscene practice of sucking everything on the planet dry … for profit … smiling at you and shaking your hand as they do so.
They are, after all, very good at lying & conning for profit. According to that WHO checklist at any rate.
John Key, the smiling assassin, pictured all but ‘gifting’ NZ’s water to OnePure at cantonfair.org.cn (click on the images to enlarge)
Watch The Corporation movie
Note: If you are unable to watch the movie, visit the website http://www.thecorporation.com/ where you will find transcripts to download.
A former Taupo Mayor brought this to light & is featured in another article exposing the gravy train that 1080 aerial drops are. From that article:
[Mayor] Cooper’s council has passed a resolution – six for and four against – to advocate for the abolition of aerial 1080 poisoning and to seek alternative possum eradication methods. The Westland District Council has passed a similar resolution and the mayor of Kaikoura has called for a 1080 ban, as a groundswell of opposition to the deadly poison, banned in most countries, builds.
A 1080 “gravy train” keeps the aerial drops going, Cooper claims. There is too much money being made for them to be abolished, he says, conspiratorially. He talks of closed-door deals, conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency from the agencies involved. “I think it’s a bit like something died in the back paddock and hasn’t been buried.”
Cooper points to multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to a local firm, Epro Ltd, to spread 1080 from the air. Its director and co-owner, Roger Lorigan, used to work at Environment Waikato, which issues resource consents for 1080 work, in its pest management unit. A former colleague, Kevin Christie, also has his own firm, Ecofx based in Otorohanga, which has also won big contracts. READ MORE
Four horses die in Turangi, poisoned with 1080 in a bungled drop by Epro
A fourth horse has died and three others remain extremely sick after what Turangi residents claim is a bungled 1080 poison aerial drop and they want someone to take responsibility.
Horse owner Noel Fox said that on November 6, 1080 poison bait was dropped over paddocks near Rangipo Prison on which he grazes 11 horses. He had been told earlier that the area was out of the drop zone.
Mr Fox said that on the day of the drop he was at the paddock to get two horses for his children to ride at pony club the next day.
An Epro worker stopped to ask if he had heard there had been an error with the 1080 drop and that poison had been dropped close to the paddock boundary.
“It was the first I heard of it,” Mr Fox said.
Epro was contracted by Environment Waikato to do the 1080 poison drop.
Mr Fox said one of the horses started showing signs of being unwell at pony club and died on Saturday, November 10. The other horse also showed signs of having eaten the 1080 poison, but was not as badly affected.
Two other horses remain ill and it is not clear if the three animals will fully recover.
Two of the sick horses were due to go into training for Polocrosse and the Pony Club Mounted Games but will now be turned out for the season.
Mr Fox said only after his horse showed symptoms of poisoning did he look on Wednesday, November 7 in the paddock and find 1080 poison pellets. “It was very upsetting for the kids.”
Three other horses in the area died, on November 8, after the same 1080 drop.
On Friday, angry horse owners met to discuss concerns about what they say is buck-passing by Epro and EW.
In a statement the group said it was “absolutely appalled” at information contained in a media release sent out by EW.
Group members said they were not well informed about the 1080 drop by Epro.
“We, the owners, would like to know the names of the persons whom Epro say they had contacted prior to the poison drop. Certainly none of the horse or land owners-administrators have been contacted.
“To blame the horse owners for their own horses dying is an absolute insult. We are lost for words for being accused of killing our own horses.”
Epro managing director Roger Lorigan said there had been a “breakdown in communication” internally among his workers.
“More communication should have been there.”
Mr Lorigan said there was a lot more to the story than had been reported and he looked forward to the EW review so Epro could “move forward”.
EW biosecurity group manager John Simmons said EW had “strict procedures in place for 1080 use and we have an extremely good record of using it safely”.
“We were in contact with some of the horse owners when the incident was first reported to us but this is the first we have heard of these additional allegations.
“We take these reports very seriously and will be inviting the horse owners to tell us about this new information so it can be included as part of the review that’s under way.
“Until we have established all the facts it would unhelpful to comment further.”
Photo: Clyde Graf, video screenshot (note: not a horse from the article)
For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the news page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).
Recently the SPCA (finally) spoke out about the animal cruelty associated with 1080 poisoning of NZ’s creatures, calling for a look into alternatives. If ever a death was cruel it was death by 1080. It has been likened by a veterinarian to two days worth of slow electrocution. (Search Youtube for video evidence of this. Not for the faint hearted).
Death by 1080’s been likened by a vet to two days of electrocution
Our authorities have tweaked the Animal Welfare Act to allow this. Just like they changed the Resource Management Act to allow them to drop this same ecotoxin with no antidote into any sized body of water totally disregarding the data sheets which say not to. A convenient ‘solution’ to those glitches in the wholesale poisoning of more than just pests (as we’re led to believe).
Anyway, the SPCA has been roundly censured for daring to suggest a two day agonizing death is reason enough to look into alternatives, assisted predictably, by an economist. To the discerning among us that’s surely an uncomfortable mix? An economist? Commenting on animal cruelty?
But then 1080 is very much about money & economies. And gravy trains. In NZ it is anyway. Economists are really enthused about conservation & the much touted ‘sustainable development’ lie. I say ‘lie’ because since the inception of the ‘sustainable’ idea (early ’90s) I’ve seen very little that you could call sustainable except of course the profits accumulating in the banks of its proponents. On the other hand, child poverty is up, suicide’s up, debt’s up, pollution is exponentially up and on it goes. So after 30 odd years & few if any results, it clearly isn’t working. Well not for most us anyway.
And aside from all of the above, a two day death IS cruel.
I’m noticing lately, every time a new crack appears in the flimsy rationale offered for using a non-target poison to target pests, instead of trotting out the body of watertight research thousands of NZers are still waiting to see, including the long term studies, we are offered as an alternative to the usual ‘toolbox’ speech, a new spokesperson, the latest being economist Gareth Morgan. Gareth has a financial interest in 1080 through his association with Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP), a partnership between NEXT Foundation, and the Department of Conservation. Gareth’s particularly well known for his inclination to exterminate NZ’s cat population. But then, they’re an introduced species aren’t they & the NZ Govt (Corporation) without plainly telling us in the Predator Free 2050 verbiage, intends for the elimination of all introduced species except farm stock. Economists in the, dare I say Rogernomics view however, do fit the new conservation look. Economists have a Houdini-like ability to adapt themselves to any cause if it means profits. Two things that go together like peas in a pod these days are profits & chemicals, even poisonous ones. Think Nature Conservancy (TNC).
TNC is known as the new Greenwash … environmental organizations partnering with very large & powerful corporations many of which have more to do with destroying environments than saving them. For further info on that read our post earlier last year on the Nature Conservancy visitors (30 international bankers including the CE of Goldman Sachs) flying over Fiordland with DoC’s CEO Lou Sanson … (see here also, cited below). (When this piece of news leaked out and was posted on social media, a Labour member explained in one of the discussions that it was a conservation mission associated with TNC).
TNC is a Hong Kong group and is headed by a former Goldman Sachs CEO.
Check out their corporate partners: “Pepsi Co, Disney, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Walmart and Cargill. In Asia Pacific, … Neutrogena in Australia and Rio Tinto in Mongolia. In Hong Kong, … Dragonair, Pacific Coffee Company, FORTUNE China, HSBC Private Bank, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Hong Kong Commercial Radio, Moet Hennessy Asia Pacific, Time Asia, Sun Hung Kai Properties and the Hong Kong Airport Authority”. And there it is again, Goldman Sachs. They’re featuring quite prominently. And Key’s friends from Merrill Lynch.
If you navigate from the NZ website for TNC, there is another list of global companies that have partnered with them. On that very long list are Dow Chemicals, Shell & Coke to name three, who are all ill qualified to fit any green profile by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaking broadly, a not so new breed of ‘environmental’ people have clearly been dominating the green movement for some time particularly since neo liberal economics and are in fact all for profit. Strange bedfellows they shroud their activities in a deceptive cloak of green & sustainable rhetoric but don’t be fooled. The bottom line of corporations is profit. (Read Behind the Green Mask on that. The author Rosa Koire’s site is here).
“As part of a three-year strategic plan, in 2016 we worked with government officials, local communities, indigenous (Iwi) leaders, businesses and local conservation groups to identify science-based solutions to poor water quality and runoff.”
You can read at the link what else they’re up to. Clearly with their input our waterways are no cleaner and our clean water reserves are still either under threat, or being bottled and sent off shore for the sole benefit of foreign corporations that plunder us with impunity.
Please do educate yourself on the independent science on 1080. There’s a war going on for the public’s total blessing on a poison industry that flies in the face of reason regarding the humane treatment of animals. And that’s just one facet of the issue.
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the front (this) page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the other longer doco also made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the front (this) page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).
Whilst your comments are welcome, I reserve this venue for comments & discussion around the independent research that mainstream is not presenting. I’m not interested in & do not have the time for long discussions around mainstream vs independent or ‘he said, she said’ scenarios. My reasoning is clearly spelled out in the introductory pages. You are welcome to take or leave the info presented here, and if you are strongly against it the best place for discussing your ideas would be mainstream. Thank you for reading.
Posted recently in 1080 social media pages (name supplied):
Graham says: “Just before Christmas my worker and I were clearing back overhanging foliage from a footpath in a built up area. Along came an elderly gentleman on his little scooter thing they have these days. He wanted to stop for a yarn so we obliged. He was 82 and had just made one last journey back home to the area he grew up in … the West coast. He went to all his childhood and teenage years haunts and spent time, a lot of it in and on bush tracks.
I asked him did he notice much in the way of change since those days?
The Birds he said … the place used to be full of native birds but all he saw on this whole trip there was one Weka. Everything has gone. The bush is now dead. No Kiwi, no Weka or Tui, even the Kea had gone.
“The place used to be lousy with Keruru, now nothing. He has no doubt whatsoever that 1080 is to blame. It’s just destroyed everything.
Where he lives now, and I have no idea where that is, he said he had planted lots of Kowhai and every year the Tui came and he used to sit on the front porch and watch them … this year … nothing … not one bird.
But of course a lifetime’s observation is unscientific and counts for nothing.”
EWR comment:
“… a lifetime’s observation is unscientific and counts for nothing” … note that even the independent science from bona fide scientists counts for nothing. Only the ‘science’ that the authorities sign off is considered acceptable. Remember the recent post citing Reihana Robinson in ‘The Killing Nation’ and the revelation that 70% of the Department of Conservation’s ‘scientific’ studies justifying the aerial distribution of 1080 are done in-house?
So called anti-1080 people aren’t actually terrorists. They simply want clean, non poisoned water & food, at least 70% independent science … & pest control that really does target pests without killing our natives. It is simply not acceptable to kill 10K birds in one single 1080 drop.
Birds collected following a 1080 drop in the Kahurangi National Park, clearly, many are natives (Photo: Jim HIlton)Weka collected after a 1080 drop on Great Barrier Island (Photo: Tom Hunsdale)
Header Photo: Tui in Kowhai tree (envirowatchrangitikei)
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the front (this) page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).
A WELL-KNOWN TE ANAU HELICOPTER PILOT SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE LOSS OF KEA DUE TO AERIAL 1080 POISON
Carol Sawyer
If anyone would know about Kea numbers in Fiordland, Dick Deaker would.
Fiordland helicopter pilot Dick Deaker is one of the central figures in the deer recovery industry through its peak to today. He began as a deer culler, moved from fixed wing to helicopters and then into live recovery and the “Deer Wars”.
He says :
“There has only been one Kea seen in the Earl Mountains, (Fiordland National Park), since the last big 1080 poison drop there. We rarely see any in the Kepler Mountains since the last big drop – one at the Luxmore Hut. Prior to the last drop up to six Kea hung around the hut.
Plenty of Kea on western catchments! The Grebe catchment has never been poisoned, and it is not unusual to see up to 100+ some mornings. Groups of six or more are common.
I spoke to S…. G….. of Tuatapere a couple of weeks ago. When they 1080’ed Rata Burn West last time he never saw a Kea again for two years!! It was the home of Kea!
Dick Deaker (posted by permission)
We are watching one of New Zealand’s greatest environmental tragedies taking place! Worse than the introductions of stoats, ferrets, possums, wilding pines etc. that were all brought in by government agencies of bygone years!”
Some of my regular readers & correspondents will be aware of my art work being exhibited recently … (having just completed my Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts degree at Putahi a Toi, Massey). For those who are interested I’m posting my work here on the site because it concerns 1080 poison.
(As good fortune would have it by the way, my two adult children, both artists in their own right, were also exhibiting at the same time in the Te Manawa Gallery in Palmerston North. The recent feature article from the Manawatu Standard will give you the background to their work also. We were all interviewed as a trio. Unfortunately my daughter’s work is now gone, some of hers is in the newspaper article).
The theme of my work is poison, in particular 1080 & arsenic, which encapsulates the ongoing issues we are facing today … well at least those of us who are concerned about the toxic chemicals that we are involuntarily immersed in daily. These two poisons interweave throughout our history, and are only two of 280-300 active pesticide ingredients registered for use in NZ (read Dr Meriel Watts’ The Poisoning of NZ, p19). The poisoning of our food, our water, our people. The arsenic episode began in the nineteenth century with what was known as the NZ Government’s ‘Sugar & Flour’ policy, where non-selling Māori were targeted with aid in the form of flour mills and other ‘goodies’ to entice them to sell their land. Subsequently the flour became poisoned (as has happened & is documented in other colonized nations) to the extent in the Upper Whanganui River there was a notable decrease in the Māori population. The poisoning was also discovered & documented by missionary Rev Richard Taylor in his journals. You can read about it in David Young’s Woven by Water. It is also of course in the oral histories of the River & was spoken about in the Treaty hearings. Tariana Turia (former politician, co-leader of the Māori Party) also wrote about this in the Taranaki Star at the passing of Sir Archie Taiaroa, from the River. Sir Archie had wanted the stories to be made known, saying that Māori were forced to rely on flora and fauna to avoid being poisoned. My great uncle from the Whanganui River died of suspected poisoning. What a damning episode to the record of a so called ‘Christian’ nation. Civilizing so called ‘savages’? It is very clear who were the savages. And so it goes on today with the systematic dropping into our environment, the deadly ecotoxin called 1080.
On this theme I created an assemblage, after the work of indigenous Australian artist Tony Albert, detailing the current poisoning of our waterways and food by the aerial 1080 program operating here in Aotearoa (NZ). In my research on that I have seen testimony of concerned Whanganui people subject to aerial drops who saw incidences of miscarriages & cancer immediately after one. Like the cancer clusters around the cell towers, the authorities of course deny all of this. Dr Peter Scanlon (late) detailed that there have been little if any studies on the effects of 1080 on the unborn. Remember the post about how two midwives advised their pregnant patients to leave town when they heard of an imminent 1080 drop? I would certainly be erring on the side of safety & leaving also were I in their position.
Returning to the assemblage it contains images I’ve used with the permission of the donor* featuring the 2018 hikoi with Emile Leaf & Alan Gurdon. The basic message is … ‘Kāti te paitini haere i ā tātou kai!’ … ‘stop poisoning our food!’ It also features the assimilation drive of the colonists who desired land & and an eventual absorption of Māori into the white race. Well documented if you search … Angela Ballara’s ‘Proud to be White’ is a good start. The newspaper archives she cites speak volumes. Wiping out an ethnic group is technically called genocide however that is well nigh a dirty word in many circles today.
Below is the final gallery version.
Te Kaupapa Here mō te Parāoa me te Huka| The Flour and Sugar Policy – Artist: Pam Vernon, Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi
Description: Governor Grey’s 1840s policy of aid and education saw the provision of many flour mills in NZ including along the Whanganui River. Matahiwi’s Kawana mill was named after him. David Young records in Woven by Water (p 49-50) the rapid decline in population on the upper river and the alleged systematic poisoning of non-selling hapū there. The government policy therefore became known as the ‘sugar & flour policy’. Land alienation was further fast tracked via The Native Land Court, with depopulation of Māori occurring via land wars, the introduction of muskets and European diseases. Te reo Māori was banned in schools and the assimilation agenda continued into the twentieth century (the Hunn Report,1960).
Part of the assemblage is this Biblical scripture taken from Matthew , translated it means: “…for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known” referring to the secret poisoning of Māori who would not sell their lands.
There is another scripture under the visible one (second ‘page’) that quotes Isaiah 26:21, “See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
The image below is also part of the assemblage detailing what a former NZ Premier John Ballance had to say about Māori. He was called a ‘nation builder’.
John Ballance, dubbed a ‘nation builder’ is renowned for his quote “the only good Māori is a dead one” currently in place of honour outside the Whanganui District Council buildings
The work below titled ‘Ekoruhe 20:13 | Exodus 20:13’ is an installation featuring three flour bags. I was told years ago by a kuia in our home town that the flour bags marked for poisoning had a red circle on them. I’ve taken artistic license to add red circles to the bag marked ‘paraoa’ (flour), although I am unsure how the red circle originally looked.
Description: “Kaua e patu” (do not kill), are words from the Bible, the book brought here by the missionaries. Governor Grey’s Flour and Sugar policy was said to be partly an attempt to reduce Māori ‘rebellion’ against land acquisitions, targeting areas where he hoped to acquire land. With the alleged poisoning of Māori, they were forced to use their knowledge of flora and fauna to avoid death. Used globally to this day, the destruction of indigenous food sources on colonial fronts is a time-worn tactic. Currently, another poison is being dropped into our waterways, contaminating both our water & our wild food.
The work below titled ‘E Paitini ana i te Whenua me te Wai | Poisoning the Land & the Water’ speaks for itself.
Description: For over 50 years, 1080 poison, a class 1A ecotoxin with no antidote, banned in most countries, has been dropped regularly onto NZ soil, currently at amounts of 4,000 tonnes per annum, enough to kill 60 million people. The Government recently changed legislation so that it can drop 1080 into the waterways without a resource consent, excluding the operation from Resource Management Act protection. A retired NZ Doctor recently warned that if you die from 1080 poisoning, nobody will know because Doctors are bullied by the MOH into not testing for it.
Below is the work titled E Paitini ana i ngā Manu| Poisoning the Birds. This also speaks for itself.
E Paitini ana i ngā Manu| Poisoning the Birds, Artist: Pam Vernon Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi
Description: It’s claimed by DoC that 1080, a class 1A ecotoxin targets pests, however, originally an insecticide, 1080 kills all oxygen breathing animals and organisms (Dr M Watts 2010). A 2002 Otago 1080 drop killed an estimated 10,000 non-target birds. Over 5 years, of 89 dead tagged kiwi in the Tongariro Forest, none were tested for 1080. In 1984 Brodifacoum exterminated Tawhitinui Island’s entire weka population.
The bird image is from a carved kōkako from Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui’s house, Huriwhenua, at Ranana on the Whanganui River. It’s speculated it may symbolize the raven sent forth from Noah’s ark (David Young, Woven by Water).
Finally is the work titled St Joseph’s Church & Convent at Hiruhārama. Hiruhārama is on the Whanganui River, home of the pictured Catholic mission presence and Sister Aubert.
St Joseph’s Church & Convent at Hiruhārama . Artist: Pam Vernon Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi
Description: Patiarero on the Whanganui River was re named Hiruhārama (Jerusalem) by missionary Reverend Richard Taylor in the 1850s, as were many other Whanganui River settlements. In 1892, Suzanne Aubert (known as Mother Mary Joseph) established the congregation of the Sisters of Compassion, a charitable and religious order, where they cared for abandoned children. Their presence is still there today.
(Thanks to the Sisters of Compassion for permission to use their photograph).
Thanks also to Rere Tihema for the use of his protest images.
The exhibition will remain up until February so if you are in the Palmerston North area over the holiday break you can see it at Te Manawa.
I acknowledge all the kaiako at Putahi a Toi Massey & in particular Kura Te Waru Rewiri from whom I’ve learned so much. My learning is a journey that’s still in progress.
And finally, a correction regarding the Standard article. This is a misunderstanding by the writer who assumed I was from Patiarero going presumably from my painting the Hiruhārama image. I whakapapa to the River through my father’s side (see ‘about the author’ at the main menu) … I am unsure which is our marae however. Still researching that. Apologies.
With the ranks of those who oppose the aerial spreading of 1080 swelling exponentially, you may well be asking, why are folk so concerned about this poison? (Note, If you are new to 1080 poison read here for an overview). I’ve been following this issue for at least three years now & this widespread aerial distribution of 1080 into NZ’s environment for pest control is the issue that gets by far the most views and shares at EnvirowatchRangitikei. The article by Jenese James on the GrafBoys’ press release on 89 (dead & not tested) Kiwi has had 54K shares to date on facebook. Folk are outraged at what is coming to light and rightly so. I personally began researching the independent information about 1080 after watching the documentary by the GrafBoys called Poisoning Paradise.These two Kiwi guys were raised in the bush, they know their stuff. Their doco has won four international awards (see here also) and yet … get this … NZ television will not play it here in our own country. They are assuming that we cannot listen & judge for ourselves? Does that not raise alarm bells for you? It should. That doco was the starting point that left me with enough question marks around the official line, to prompt me to look further than DoC’s own research. That is literal too, for the research DoC uses to justify the alleged safety of aerial distribution of 1080 in NZ is 70% in-house, writes Reihana Robinson in her book The Killing Nation.
So what is coming to light then? Does NZ’s Department of Conservation (DoC) not have our best interests at heart? The best interests of our native flora & fauna? Don’t they have all the right checks & balances in place? Do they not have a body of scientific data & research (including follow up data) justifying the use of this poison, that has been banned incidentally by most other countries on the planet? Well, as it turns out, no they don’t appear to have a sound, watertight body of scientific data that actually proves 1080 is both safe & achieving (after 60+ years) what it set out to do.
“… there is not a single scientifically credible study showing that aerial 1080 when used on the mainland is of net benefit to any species of New Zealand’s native fauna. Thus the upside for native species is entirely unproven, despite 15 years of increasingly desperate attempts by DoC to show one.” … Pat and Quinn Whiting-OKeefe, Scientists
In light of this, people are understandably worried about their food sources. If it’s touted as being ‘safe’, safe in our food, safe in water and so on, yet the science has any kind of question mark over it, then logically, folk will be concerned. I certainly am. The authorities should be practicing the precautionary principle:
“The precautionary principle is the concept that establishes it is better to avoid or mitigate an action or policy that has the plausible potential, based on scientific analysis, to result in major or irreversible negative consequences to the environment or public even if the consequences of that activity are not conclusively known, with the burden of proof that it is not harmful falling on those proposing the action. It is a major principle of international environmental law and is extended to other areas and jurisdictions as well.” (New World Encylopedia)
Always I go back to the statements of the late Dr Peter Scanlon on this:
“Where are the cancer causing or carcinogenicity studies? … there aren’t any;
Where are the reproductive studies, particularly focusing on female eggs? … there aren’t any;
Where are the developmental studies, early exposure to brain, immune system? … there aren’t any;
Where are the long term chronic exposure studies looking at mitochondrial DNA content and mutation rates? there aren’t any.
There’s a lot of doubts about this substance, it’s dangerous.”
Should they not be stopping the use of aerially dropped 1080 until the studies are done as a US Biophysicist from Tufts University has suggested?
Many NZers hunt and fish for their food [Photo: Courtesy of Hikoi of a Poisoned Nation FB page]NZers are keen hunters and fishers. Wild food (pigs and deer, fish & eels from the rivers, koura from the streams, whitebait and so on) are a staple for many. This is their families’ kai (food). The rivers and bush or forests are their food cupboard. And now they are seeing that source becoming a safety risk because a toxic poison is being dumped into it and has been for 60+ years. In spite of verbiage telling us it’s harmless as a cup of tea or a packet of crisps (potato chips) (the oft quoted justifications on blogs by pro 1080 folk).
So not only is there concern about contamination of hunted animals, but contamination of the flora as well.
Not only is 1080 highly toxic to mammals, birds and insects- one scientist has even discovered that it is toxic to plants and so forests do not do so well after 1080 drops. (interview with Clyde Graf) ourplanet.org
1080 is “Highly toxic to wildlife” the data sheets warn
Take for instance the recent poisoning of the family in Putaruru in the Waikato. This family, after beginning a meal of wild pork, fell instantly ill and had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance. The scenario that followed is revealing indeed regarding the apparent cover up that is going on with regard to testing possible victims of 1080 poisoning. A Doctor suspected 1080 as the source of the problem early in the piece as records showed when they were finally released after some of the usual foot dragging that seems to be characteristic of any request by the public for official documentation around possible 1080 poisoning. The familycould not even access their own records! Not only did the hospital fail to test for 1080 within the required time frame, the fact that the patients were literally tied to their beds because of the violent convulsions characteristic of 1080 poisoning, was never mentioned in the media.
The ongoing mantra from mainstream media on this was ‘botulism’.
You can read about this whole shocking debacle at the 1080 page, ‘Suspected 1080 Poisoning Cases’. Please read the evidence there if you at all hunt or fish for food. And if you are a tourist, it is better in my opinion, not to drink from the streams as many have been observed doing. Observers have described how tourists are sometimes not even aware of the purpose of 1080 drops going on right over their heads. So much for public warnings.
Invariably what I am seeing in the reports, articles and general chat by eye witnesses is that the toxicity of 1080 is totally downplayed. It is even being taught in children’s school texts that 1080 is ‘not very dangerous’ to humans. This is a substance that is banned in most countries. That kills all breathing organisms from insect life to worms, right up to larger animals such as horses. And yet we are supposed to believe it specifically targets pests? How ever is that possible? Another miracle from NZ’s Department of Conservation? Read Dr Meriel Watts’ exposé of that theory.
Then we heard this year from research by the Graf Brothers that the authorities have changed the rules to allow the dropping of 1080 into our waterways without a Regional Council consent. They can now effectively bypass the pesky Resource Management Act. And dropping it they are. Prior to this, it was ending up in waterways anyway as witnesses have shown with their many photographs posted online. The late Bill Benfield’s research revealed that a drop in the Hunua Ranges, home of Auckland’s town water supply, saw the water filters filled with 1080 pellets! Seriously. In addition, there is NO antidote! It is undetectable as the cause of death if tests are not done early enough.
To date there are no known epidemiological studies that have been carried out in relation to 1080 and potential adverse health effects on humans. … NZ Ministry of Health 2008
Then there is the risk to outdoors people who simply walk or hike. Over the past three years I’ve seen various reports of folk out picnicking, out tramping or simply enjoying the scenery, rained down on by 1080 pellets.
Hiker Whitney Robie died of suspected 1080 poisoning however NZ’s authorities lost her heart thereby rendering the cause undetectable
Two women fell ill after this kind of scenario while innocently out for a picnic. Nobody will of course admit to any link between their illness & exposure to 1080. The most upsetting of all the examples of this has been that of the young US woman who died following a tramp in the Queenstown area. Her Doctor suspected 1080 poisoning & tried to bring about an investigation into that. Her heart was sent for testing as to the cause of her cardiac rest and unbelievably the NZ lab lost her heart. Seriously. They lost her heart! Dr Charlie Baycroft a retired MD, recently warned the public that if anybody dies from 1080 poison nobody will know. He was threatened with prosecution by the Ministry of Health for publicly advising folk how to go about getting tested if they feared poisoning.
Are you beginning to feel uneasy at all about our wild food sources?
I read a comment just the other day by a woman who has stopped taking her children to a recreational/scenic area where she’s noticed signs up saying it’s been treated with 1080. I spoke recently with a university lecturer on the poisoning program, he has noticed a proliferation of poison signs when he goes into the bush. This is a common comment from tourists and locals. Poisoning signs everywhere. There are 65 dogs die each year from 1080 poisoning a NZ site called Pause for a Cause reports. Then there are the ongoing and endless reports of farmers whose stock have succumbed to death by 1080. Dr Meriel Watts in her book ‘The Poisoning of New Zealand’ (1994) of a South Island farmer who lost 570 sheep in a bungled drop, with sheep still dying six months later. To make things even worse, they die a long slow horrific death that, says a veterinarian, is like two days worth of electrocution. The NZ authorities changed the animal welfare act to allow this. To top it off, adding insult to injury, they are forced to lie about this in the paperwork should they desire compensation for their losses. Hobson’s choice.
Then there was the Whitianga debacle. The attendance by one concerned man at the scene of the unloading of 1080 in the CBD of Whitianga with no public warnings or signage out as legally required, a man who was subsequently assaulted by a security guard, was himself charged with assault, the case eventually dismissed but leaving him with more than $22K in court costs. If you were at all conspiratorial you might think a clear message was being sent to the public. You can read about that at these links. Then in Levin a Horizons storage facility where 1080 was stored caught fire, with apparently no public warnings in place. I observed myself, comments on social media by a man who had noticed symptoms of illness following that fire. He lived in the vicinity. His conversation around the effects cut abruptly short I noticed.
Data Sheets warn about the disposal by burning of 1080 pellets
More recently we’ve had revelations on lack of safety with 1080, by an ex employee of Horizons. Diluted solutions of 1080 were sprayed all over the Palmerston North landfill by a contractor surprised that he was allowed to do this. What of the leachate from that dump? What of public in the vicinity of the spraying? What of the earth it was sprayed onto? Of nearby water sources/streams/ditches and so forth?
Data sheets warn against baits entering waterways (Photo: TV-Wild)
ERMA’s Agency warned that “No studies have been conducted using standard international guidelines to assess the route and rate of degradation of 1080 in soil. The rate of such degradation under New Zealand conditions is uncertain.”And regarding water: ”Overall, the relevance of the aquatic plant/water studies to the degradation of 1080 in water in NZ is not clear.” … Dr Jo Pollard (BSc (Hons, PhD)
And yes there is more that folk are concerned about.
The birds. Frequently we are reading comments by people who note there is no birdsong … no birds in the bush. Folk who have lived long enough to remember how things used to be, like an 82 year old gentleman recently who said the Kiwi, Kereru, Kea, Weka & Tui had all disappeared from where he lived on the West Coast. Reports also come from people who aren’t even anti 1080 or even aware of these drops. Tourists. One I read commented that since their last trip to NZ in the ’70s the birds were noticeably scarce. The GrafBoys & others have posted videos online following 1080 drops & illustrated the lack of birdsong. Listen below.
Below a blogger comments about Lake Matheson in the South Island:
Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier township, South Westland. When I lived there many years ago (Fox Glacier I mean) there was so much birdlife. The day I took that photo there was nothing. You can see what a beautiful morning it was. There was a pair of Paradise ducks on the lake, I saw one male Tomtit, and I heard one Grey Warbler. In one hour of walking round the lake that was all the birdsong I heard. A real “Rachel Carson” moment ! PS That area is also overrrun with tourists and campervans now too.
No … people who oppose the use of aerial 1080 are not terrorists as mainstream media is doing their utmost to portray them as. They simply do not want their food sources & their environment poisoned. I think that is a fair request.We are constantly told that 1080 is the best tool in the tool box, yet there are alternatives & the most glaringly obvious is trapping with all of it’s obvious benefits. Employment, trade & food. But no, DoC don’t want a bar of it.
It seems pertinent at this point to highlight one of the apparent major incentives for the continuation of 1080 drops, as a former Mayor of Taupo expounded:
Orillion, the company in Whanganui that makes 1080 baits is a State Owned Enterprise, its two share holders are the Minister of Finance & the Minister of Primary Industry. (Info at 2.40 in this video).
People need to look beyond the diversions mainstream is constantly throwing out … were the dead birds on Parliament steps killed by 1080 or blunt force? Seriously? What does it matter?
These are questions however that mainstream media quietly & persistently ignore. It is fairly obvious who they are working for & their current mandate is clearly painting any persons who are against poisoned food & environments as dangerous terrorists.
And we are never of course going to hear answers to those questions … figuring them out for ourselves really isn’t rocket science though is it?
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the front (news) page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).
Nearly 70% of DoC’s studies justifying aerial 1080 operations were conducted by employees of either AHB [Animal Health Board] or DOC [Dept of Conservation] with only three being published internationally (Robinson, pp 34, 35).
Reihana Robinson in her book titled ‘The Killing Nation, NZ’s State-Sponsored Addiction to Poison 1080’ cites the research of US biophysicist Dr Alexis Mari Pietak of Tufts University, Massachusetts.
Dr Pietak ‘conducted a comprehensive literature search for “peer-reviewed scientific investigations into the effects of aerial poison operations on non target fauna” and compared “the costs and benefits to native species poison operations versus unchecked possum populations at their peak density”.’
Quoting from Robinson’s book (emphases mine):
“Her research indicated aerial poisoning has “twice as many costs to native species as benefits, and that aerial poison operations were twice as costly to native species as unmanaged possum populations at their peak density.” this potential for widespread poisoning of insectivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous endemic and endangered or threatened bird species she believes is “a serious issue worthy of international and immediate action,” Namely, to immediately halt aerial poison operations.
Dr Pietak notes the few bird species that have actually been the subject of “proper radio-transmitter, colour banding, and mark-recapture analysis before and after poison operations’ are the nectar, fruit and foliage eating birds such as hihi, kereru, kōkako and kaka and are indeed most likely to benefit from possum removal. Missing from thorough research are those birds identified as being high risk of primary or secondary poisoning. They number 24 indigenous bird species. She references work by Armstrong 2001 that “notes that data derived from bird or call counts cannot be analysed to separate changes in abundance from changes in detection, due to the fact that bird behaviour is affected by the presence of a human observer. Detection rates can vary depending on the weather, human observer, and unknown bird behavioural patterns.” She states the “science seems to have been selectively interpreted, ignored, and moreover left grossly incomplete in its scope, presumably in the name of non-environmental economical interests” “
Like a growing number of researchers Dr Pietak notes the potential for bias given the large number of studies funded by AHB [Animal Health Board] or DOC [Dept of Conservation]. Of the 28 studies retrieved she finds 19 of 28, (nearly 70%), were conducted by employees of either AHB or DOC with only three being published internationally”. (Robinson, pp 34, 35)*.
* Pietak, Alexis Mari A Critical Look at Aerial-Dropped, Poison-Laced Food in New Zealand’s forest Ecosystems 2010 Creative Commons
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
Some insights on DoC here from insiders … note that familiar word ‘restructure’ the the smoke & mirror modus operandi of the corporates. When the music stops (the restructure music) … less bums on seats, more work for those who are left, more profits for CE & the likes. A post Rogernomics tactic.
Insiders pan DOC’s corporate embrace
From newsroom.co.nz
Another sign of how the Department of Conservation has lost its way, some insiders and ex-staffers say, is its embrace of corporate management methods. David Williams reports.
Faced with staff discontent, the Department of Conservation called in consultants and rolled out a suite of management tools. First there was the so-called interface project, to improve relations between scientific and operational staff. After that, there was “team process” and “reflection logs”, and, for managers, “single-point accountability”.
DOC director-general Lou Sanson, a proponent of the changes, says when he was appointed in 2013 the department was “siloed”, after two big restructures that shed 250 jobs. The new wave of staff interactions have led to huge advances, he says.
But critics say the new set of behavioural rules are another sign DOC has lost its way – showing how disconnected the leadership of the organisation’s become from the work it’s there to do. One former DOC worker says the department’s been captured by fads, which has ushered in a period of “empty change”. They paint a picture of excruciatingly awkward, hours-long meetings of unnecessary navel-gazing.
Another former DOC staffer says: “A tremendous amount of money, time and effort was being spent on what I would regard as wasted projects trying to make communication internally within the department better.”
‘Just doing his job’
A current DOC insider says the changes accentuated the decision-making authority of managers, who were encouraged to manage workers more assertively. That’s made them more sensitive to people who – like departed ecologist Nick Head – challenge authority about poor decisions.
Head was controversially suspended for sending photos to conservation organisations, after being asked to do so, of irrigation pipeline work on public conservation land. But some of his ex-colleagues say he was just doing his job and was effectively punished for speaking up about “piss-poor” decisions.
From ‘NO to 1080’ facebook page, it was written by Joel Lund of Wanaka, who had the chance to meet up with Lou Sanson at a function recently, and made the most of the opportunity. Now I’ve seen this decried recently in social media in that the CE was attending a funeral and therefore this was a reluctant ‘interview’. My response to that is, as unfortunate as the setting may have been & all due respects to the departed, nevertheless this is what goes with the territory surely of CEs on their vastly bloated salaries. In bed with the banking fraternity & the greenwash club, and heading up a corporation that is in it for profit only (corporations do not consider humans, just profits, don’t believe me? Watch ‘The Corporation’ movie on the Corporations page, they are literally not allowed to consider the effects of their activities on humans) … that means you get what you give. Why should Joel Lund therefore be obliged to return human ethics to a steely cold corporate entity? This particular corporation is shutting out all questions from the public on the ground level (witness the folk who have been phoning them up lately with pretty basic questions about imminent aerial 1080 operations who are hung up on and treated like the so-called terrorists media is making anybody who is against 1080 to be). Anyhow …. read on …
A few weeks ago I met the boss of DOC Lou Sanson and took the opportunity to explain the possibilities and current technology available for the development and use of “Smart traps” to control predators of our endangered native species.
Lou’s response to my quick explanation of the technology and capabilities of such trapping systems was, “Whats wrong with using 1080 ?”
I responded with, “Well 1080 is toxic, extremely dangerous and kills so many non target species.”
His abrupt and seemingly angry response was,
Even though I was a bit shocked to hear such a totally blatant lie from the boss of DOC I quickly and calmly said,
“1080 kills about 65 dogs in NZ each year and kills many native birds such as Kea which DOC’s own studies show.”
I am not sure I have quoted the following exactly correct word for word but will be close to it. The conversation continued with Lou Sanson making up excuses as to why the development of advanced “Smart Traps” would not be suitable for predator control instead of 1080 poison.
He said such things as, “It will cost too much.”
My response was, “Smart traps would initially cost a hell of a lot to develop and set up but would become much cheaper over time.”
He gestured at the distant snow capped Southern Alps and said, “Look at that area, the area is too big, their is too much land to cover and so much of NZ is inaccessible.”
I argued that, “Nowhere in NZ is inaccessible because everywhere is accessible by helicopters and we don’t need to trap every single part of Public Conservation land to save endangered species. Some scientists have also recently made it clear that it would be possible to have many small areas of intensively monitored and predator trapped areas in NZ which could be enough to ensure the survival of endangered species and possibly even allow them to flourish.”
His response was, “You would know how hard it is to get good staff.”
Which I agreed to and responded with, “I am absolutely sure good staff can be found as their are plenty of people who would be very happy to be in the bush trapping especially if they could make a reasonable living out of it.”
I explained how camping and working in the bush is dramatically easier than it was in the old days due to advancements in equipment such as cheap satellite communication, GPS, ultra light weight technically advanced hiking and camping equipment that I use myself now such as my ultra light down insulated mattress.
Lou then said, “So how do you kill all the deer, pigs and chamois ?”
I would describe this as a clear admission from Lou that big game animals are targeted to be killed by 1080 poison and reinforced what I am absolutely sure is fact, that DOC’s current long term goal is to try to eradicate all big game on public conservation land.* [Editor’s note, they are indeed, see the link below].
I said to Lou, “After World War 2, deer cullers managed to get the massive deer numbers down without out all the extremely advanced equipment we have today such as helicopters, jet boats and thermal imaging equipped hunting rifles etc.”
Lou went on to ask what my profession or skills were before saying, “It sounds like you should apply for a job with DOC.”
Then he handed me his DOC business card. I expressed my interest in developing trap technologies but did not take up what seemed to be a job offer.
I spoke further about how companies such as some helicopter companies will be very worried about losing big long term lucrative government 1080 contracts if 1080 is banned but they need to wake up and realize that the 1080 contracts could be changed to contracts to fly in trappers and trapping equipment into Public Conservation land which might actually generate more profits for them than 1080!
It appeared he was in a bit of a “huff” when he finally said he had to talk to other people and walked away.
My impression of Lou is that he is a devout salesman that won’t let the truth get in the way of business deals and feels under pressure to honour the massive multi million dollar long term 1080 logistics and application contracts he has no doubt signed up with various companies. Those companies that have invested in the growing 1080 industry and no doubt gone ahead and financed such things as new trucks and helicopters on the back of long term government guaranteed contracts will not be very happy with him if the 1080 industry came to a screeching halt!
I won’t be feeling sorry for Lou Sanson when that day (hopefully) finally comes as it is hard to have any respect for a man that is so quick to lie to you even in person by saying, “1080 does not kill any non target species”.
Disgusting conduct from the Boss of DOC!
*All over the world the word has gone out that all creatures great and small that are not indigenous to that land will be terminated. It’s not just New Zealand
Photo: CEO Magazine
Header: Pixabay
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
Finally we don’t endorse violence in any way shape or form.
Remember the cover up with the Putaruru family who were admitted to Waikato Hospital after eating Wild Boar? The Doctor’s notes indicated suspected 1080 poisoning from the get go, but nobody tested, not till a long time afterwards. The Doctor’s recommendations were ignored. We kept hearing it was Botulism. Remember the healthy young 23 year old hiker in the South Island who died suddenly after hiking and whose Doctor suspected the same? Recommended & sent her heart for testing only to find the Lab conveniently (?) lost it? Remember the retired doctor who recently told us Doctors are bullied by the MOH not to test for 1080 poisoning. Remember how he was threatened with prosecution after advising the public via mainstream media how to test before & after a 1080 drop?
This information below is from the ‘NO to 1080 use in NZ’ facebook page.
In 1951, Prof. Peters, a biochemist at Oxford University, England, explained his theory of ‘lethal synthesis’ which included studies with cows and sheep on the effects of Fluoroacetic Acid (the chemical upon which 1080 poison is based) in the journal Science News Letter (7 July, page 3)
He joked: “if anyone was contemplating using fluoroacetic to poison his mother-in-law, he had better pick a Saturday to do it. [because] By the time the coroner’s office opened on Monday the citric acid evidence would be gone.”
Less than 5 years after this publication, aerial 1080 poison operations began. Why is New Zealand’s Dept of Conservation still in denial about the complexities of these tests, 67 years later? Where are the public health studies?
This article is from the ‘NO to 1080 use in NZ’ facebook page, and points to the conflicts of interest that exist regarding the funding of our universities. Universities that will not be biting the hand that feeds them. There is also funding from OSPRI, EPA and TBFree. So are you still feeling confident that DoC’s research on 1080 is safe & reliable? I’m certainly not. Any research you roll out from the independent scientists is quickly ‘debunked’ by the mainstream media. Some of the ‘debunkers’ write to this site but I decline to air their propaganda. Read the short article below.
Who stands to lose? Who stands to lose the most financially when New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DoC) finally gets closed down, after being exposed as the corrupt government agency that it is? Sixty four years is a long time for Government departments to be operating without the proper accountability, reviews and transparency that tax-payers deserve to see. DoCs propaganda has been repeatedly protected by so-called ‘experts’ in positions of power.
One of the main sectors benefiting from perpetuating the disinformation about the harm from so-called ‘pest’ species and the ‘safe as a cuppa tea’ propaganda about the risks of 1080 poison in our drinking water and food chain is Higher Education.
Official Information Act (OIA) responses have revealed that over the past 5 years, over NZ$3 million has been provided by DoC alone (additional funds have come from Ospri, TBFree and the EPA etc) to the eight main New Zealand Universities. Massey University has gained the most (nearly $1m), much of this money is in ‘consultancy fees’ (rather than research funding) via their ‘College of Sciences’. Massey has approximately the same number of students as Otago, Victoria and AUT, which begs the question: How are students – our potential future scientists – benefiting from this funding? Clearly there are many staff at Massey and other New Zealand Universities who rely heavily upon DoC cash to support their salaries.
This potential conflict of interest breaks all the rules in terms of staff codes of conduct, ethical research and integrity of scientific facts. Education needs to be as unbiased as possible, not reliant upon conflicts of interest.
When will it end and when will rigorous, independent, valid scientific research into the harm done by 1080 poison operations begin?
NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
If you are pro poisoning of the environment, EnvirowatchRangitikei is not the place to espouse your opinions. Mainstream would be the place to air those. This is a venue for sharing the independent science you won’t of course find there.
And finally, we don’t advocate violence in any way shape or form.
In the 1970s, Dr Samuel Epstein wrote ‘The Politics of Cancer’ outlining the environmental health risks of chemicals contributing to cancer. The respective industries continue to minimize or deny those impacts.
You can listen to a series of interviews with Dr Epstein by Dr Mercola on chemicals in our environment and cancer prevention at this link.
Further you could also read our own Dr Meriel Watts’ excellent book called ‘The Poisoning of New Zealand’. She writes in Section One about pesticides and cancer citing the British Medical Assn’s report (p 41):
“While no causal link has been proven between pesticides and forms of cancer … there are serious doubts about the scientific validity of some of the studies which have been undertaken and there is no epidemiological evidence available for many pesticides. In other words we do not know whether or not many pesticides are harmful or not in day to day use.”
Taken from Culliney et al (1992) she cites a long list of links made between pesticides & cancer:
I highly recommend you read her book. Libraries may hold it I would imagine.
Recently, Carol Sawyer posted information on an Otago article that gives details of a study from the University of Otago on the legacy of pesticides found in our environment. They hail a move to organic farming as being preferable. Carol details the NZ health (& other) statistics which are very damning to us as a nation.
NEW ZEALAND’S HEALTH STATISTICS
1) “Close to half the men in New Zealand and Australia are at risk of getting cancer, giving Australasia the highest regional rate in the world, latest estimates from The World Health Organisation (WHO) show.
WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates the risk of New Zealand men developing cancer before the age of 75 years is 46.27 percent. The agency estimates the risk for women in New Zealand at a third.” RNZ , 16 September, 2018
2) We have five times the global average of motor neurone disease, and the highest mortality rate from MND in the world.
3) We have one of the lowest male fertility rates in the world.
4) We have one of the highest rates of asthma in the world.
5) NZ is “a high risk country for multiple sclerosis”. Southland has among the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in New Zealand. Southland is the second largest region in New Zealand and, in all, over half of Southland’s land area is public conservation land, while farms occupy 85% of the remaining land.
6) We have the second highest rate of teenage bullying out of 51 countries.
7) We have the highest youth suicide rate in the developed world.
8) We have the worst rate of domestic violence in the world.
9) We have the third highest rate of sexual assault in the world.
“British medical journal The Lancet has published a report indicating the sexual assault rate in New Zealand is far higher than the world average. It placed the country third highest, alongside Australia.” The report looked at data from 56 countries and “placed New Zealand at the third-highest rate alongside Australia.” RNZ, 14 February 2014
I don’t know about you, but I think our massive 1080 poison use, (at present, 90% of world usage, and ongoing for 64 years now, since 1954), and our enormous use of agri-chemicals on farms must have something to do with it.
Note : I haven’t put in all the references but these health/social statistics are easily found on the net.
Below is the University of Otago’s article:
Otago study shows legacy of pesticides difficult to avoid
29/7/2013
Otago research shows banned pesticides (or their toxic degradation products) remain in the sediments of farm streams many years on.
An Otago study shows that the tell-tale legacy in rural South Island areas of pesticides banned many years ago remains, regardless of the type of sheep and beef farming now taking place on the land.
The research, led by Department of Chemistry recent PhD graduate Dr Pourya Shahpoury and just published in the international journal Environmental Pollution, nevertheless shows that average pesticide levels found in sediments of streams running through the 15 South Island farms assessed as part of the study were still within recommended thresholds.
The most frequently detected pesticide (chlorpyrifos) found in the stream beds is one that is approved in New Zealand for current use against pests. However, the study also found chemicals (or their toxic degradation products) present that had been widely used many years ago before they were banned.
The team of Otago Chemistry and Zoology Department researchers compared the presence of chlorinated pesticides at streams running through five sheep and beef farm clusters located near Amberley, Akaroa, Outram, Owaka and Gore.
In each of the five areas, one property was farmed organically, a second was farmed using the integrated pest management (reduced pesticide use) farming method, and a third was farmed conventionally. The farms were carefully selected with the help of a design formulated by Otago’s Agricultural Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS), which studies farm management strategies in New Zealand.
Sediment samples were taken from the 15 different farmland streams during the spring/early summer, the period when pests and weeds are most active, resulting in more intense application of pesticides compared to winter or autumn.
Dr Shahpoury says chlorinated pesticides, within recommended thresholds, were found throughout the study areas regardless of the farming practices that took place on the farms eight to11 years preceding the study.
“Although the chemical chlorpyrifos was the most frequently detected in stream sediments, in contrast to our expectations, its concentrations were not highest in stream sediments from conventional farms and were found at similar levels across all three different farm types. This may have been due, at least in part, to its high potential to undergo vapour drift and re-distribution,” he says.
I emailed DoC, Manawatu recently regarding the proposed aerial drop of 1080 in the Manawatu Gorge. The drop will not now happen until 2019 I’m told (see email below) …
“… aerial application of cereal baits containing 1080 will not take place in 2018 due to a lack of favourable conditions within the consent timeframe.”
I had asked in my email why 1080 is being used when the gorge, as per DoC’s own blog is trapped manually. I also asked if 1080 will be dropped into the Manawatu River. You can view the drop zone by visiting their site at this link. (Note, you will need to scroll down, read that page & tick the ‘I accept’ box at the bottom to view the map).
As regular readers will be very aware some of the info provided in the email from DoC, differs somewhat to the published independent scientific research, particularly regarding the solubility of 1080 in water. These observations have been made by independent scientists, not armchair theorists. If you are a new reader please go to the 1080 resources/links tab under the 1080 page at the main menu. The websites to the independent science are listed there. You could also use ‘categories’ (left of our news page) &/or the search box (same page) for other articles on topic. You can obviously read this info and make your own decisions about the safety of 1080 in your water … and whether or not to consume it. I should add regarding the Manawatu, that the river is already severely polluted, at one stage earning the reputation of being the most polluted river in the Southern Hemisphere. All of our rivers are so polluted we can only safely swim in 40% of them. Gone are the days of diving in without some prior research online, all depending among other things, if there’s been rainfall washing the pollutants into the water. For some time now I have drunk only distilled water because of this. Any water taken from these sources, including bores, is no longer pure. There are so many pollutants now that our town supplies are treated with chlorine to prevent you contracting diseases. The chlorine however carries its own risks due to its carcinogenic properties.
DoC Manawatu say the pellets won’t be dropped into the river in this instance (the river is not included in the drop zone) admitting though that there could be stray pellets fall into the water. See the GrafBoys’ videos at their Youtube channel on that subject, particularly their 4x international award winning doco ‘Poisoning Paradise’ that is banned from NZ’s television channels. Clearly the pellets often do fall into the waterways, indeed the rules were changed by the authorities to avoid the obtaining of resource consents to do so. (See our articles on 1080 & waterways).
Finally, we obviously do not agree with the aerial dropping of 1080, but neither do we support violence in any way in objecting to the drops. I personally do not know of one person who does advocate violence. We are primarily a peaceful resistance, we just do not want our environment or our water & food sources poisoned so will continue to ask the authorities to desist. DDT was once approved, as also was Agent Orange & glyphosate … so also was cigarette smoking considered good for your health … we live in the hope that this poison 1080 will be added to the danger list & preferably banned forever.
Below is the email from DoC:
Wed Dec 5, 2018
Kia ora Pam,
Thanks for your email regarding animal pest control methods in Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge.
The Department of Conservation intended to deliver an animal pest control operation over approximately 900 ha of the Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge project area during the spring of 2018. The planned operation targeted possums, rats and stoats across the whole site using a combination of aerial and ground based methods to apply cereal baits containing sodium fluoroacetate (1080).
Standard operating procedures for animal pest control operations include gaining necessary approvals from the Public Health Officer. A condition of the consent for Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge operation was that it must be completed before 7 December 2018.
1080 operations require a very specific set of weather conditions. 1080 is water soluble, so dry weather is required either side of bait application. Calm weather is vital for safe and accurate aerial bait application and the geography of Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge makes it especially critical. Unfortunately, it was not possible to deliver the operation to standard before the consent date ended for the 2018 calendar year.
Animal pest control methods to be used in 2019 will be considered in the new year.
In the meantime, animal pest control will revert to ground-based methods already in place to ensure some protection for taonga species in Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge this summer. Specifically, the use of diphacinone in the existing bait station network on the south side of the reserve only and community trapping initiatives in both sides of the reserve.
In response to your questions:
These young folk are doing a great job trapping, I am wondering why it is the gorge needs to be treated with 1080? Could you explain?
I agree, the Milson Scout Troop are doing a great job trapping to reduce rat and stoat numbers on the northern side of the Manawatu Gorge Scenic Reserve. However, monitoring shows that rat and possum numbers are currently too high for forest health and successful breeding by forest birds. Trapping can only be done in areas that are easily accessible on foot. Large parts of Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge are steep and unstable so cannot be managed using ground-based control methods. People cannot access these areas safely but possums, rats and stoats can. If control is only carried out in areas that can be accessed on foot, pests will continuously reinvade from unmanaged areas into the remainder of the forest. Well-managed aerial 1080 operations can reduce possum and rat numbers by more than 95% over large areas of rugged and inaccessible country.
One of the key benefits of community trapping initiatives is the role they play in advocating for biodiversity. Trapping volunteers learn practical skills and become knowledgeable and passionate about our nature through their involvement. Their hard work is valuable and visible, so they help to raise awareness about pest control and the Predator Free movement. We hope the community trappers will continue their good work in Te Apiti – Manawatu Gorge for as long as it is necessary.
Can you also please advise, will the pellets be dropped into the Manawatu River?
The planned treatment area covered forested areas on public conservation land and neighbouring land within the Te Apiti – Manawatū Gorge project area, including the road and rail corridors. The Manawatu River was not included in the treatment area. There is a small chance that some baits could have ended up in the river but this would not impact on water quality. 1080 is highly soluble in water and quickly dilutes to very low and harmless concentrations. It then biodegrades into non-toxic products.
However, as advised above, aerial application of cereal baits containing 1080 will not take place in 2018 due to a lack of favourable conditions within the consent timeframe.
Nga mihi,
Ranger, Community – Kaitiaki, Āo Hāpori
Manawatū District
Department of Conservation – Te Papa Atawhai
Conservation leadership for our nature Tākina te hī, tiakina te hā, o te ao tūroa
AN UPDATE ON NUMBERS! – ANTI-1080 FACEBOOK GROUP MEMBERS/FOLLOWERS SMASH THE 200,000 THRESHOLD!!
So… what has happened since the huge, nationwide protest on September 8, 2018?
A hikoi against 1080 use in NZ culminated in thousands protesting nationwide on 8 September … folk continue to protest nationwide
Many thought this was a temporary surge in anti-1080 enthusiasm and that it would drop off. Not so! If you count the nine groups listed in my original posts on membership, the figures are :
So, since 27 August, 2018, numbers of the nine main groups have grown by 29,846 people…..or THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE PER DAY!
The total for anti-1080 membership/followers on Facebook groups is now well over 200,000. See below. (All groups listed here are current, and active up to today!)
There are of course many groups that are not listed here. I have only listed those groups with 1,000 or more followers or members.
Here they are again with the latest figures and now three new groups have reached the 1,000 member target – “America Against 1080 – Stop Poison Drops in New Zealand”, “Operation Ban 1080 Open”, and “ABC’s of 1080”.
PLUS there are three groups of over 1,000 members that I realized I didn’t count before – “Stop 1080 Poison “, “Anti 1080 Action Ruapehu”, and “Ban 1080 Poison in New Zealand”.
Operation Ban 1080 – 84,670
NO to 1080 Use in NZ – 31,821
1080 Eyewitness – 22,065
Ban 1080 Party – 13,888
Hikoi of a Poisoned Nation – 9.389
New Zealand’s Not Clean Green – 8,688
The Graf Boys – 6,211
Ban 1080 – South Island – 4,331
Ban 1080 Poison in New Zealand – 4,224
Stop 1080 Poison – 3,944
Operation Ban 1080 Open – 3,875
Stop 1080 NOW – 3,408
Anti 1080 Action Ruapehu – 1,776
ABC’s of 1080 – 1,118
America Against 1080 – Stop the Poison Drops in New Zealand – 1,003
TOTAL = 200,411
PS : There will be some overlap, particularly between “Operation Ban 1080” and “Operation Ban 1080 Open” members, but counteracting that there are many CURRENT groups just under the 1,000 member threshold.
For example –
Groups with under 1000 members/ followers :
Stop Poisoning Coromandel Peninsula – 987
1080 in Fiordland – 819
Church of Poison Free New Zealand – 775
1080 Poison Protest Action TPPA – 743
Save Raukumara From 1080 – 722
1080 Alternatives NZ – 721
Stop 1080 Poison Fox Baits in Tasmania – 453
1080 Free Rolleston – 438
NZ Farmers Against 1080 Poison – 417
Whangarei Ban 1080 – 266
Northland 1080 – 238
Dunedin Against 1080 – 146
This statement is made within correspondence in 1994 by an Eltham resident (NZ) to a US manufacturer of 1080 (details supplied in the document at the end of the article). The person was trying to ascertain the level of risk to environment and health regarding an imminent drop of 1080 poison into a Taranaki National Park.
It is interesting to note that the replies to all the risks the person raises in their questions are risks that are now deemed quite safe & have become normalized (to the authorities at least that is – many people are now very concerned, witness the recent hikoi & continual NZ wide protests going on).
Here are the questions and answers enlarged for reading:
Nowadays we are told that 1080 targets pests and we are given the impression that little if any other form of wildlife is affected. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. A person told me recently in the Manawatu that she was told no birds would die in the bush nearby when it was 1080ed however to her surprise she found a dead bird after the area was treated. Of course we now know that this is a common occurrence by the testimony of many people who find multiple dead birds after drops, photograph them & post them online. And of course we have the various documentations that we’ve published here of multiple finds, with latterly the estimate by a Landcare scientist of 10,000 birds in a South Island drop. Just search ‘birds, 1080’ in our search box to find more.
We are regularly told that 1080 breaks down to harmlessness in water. A scientist told me the other day it is so diluted it isn’t a problem, repeating the cup of tea mantra we hear so regularly. We also learned recently it was added to water to poison ships rats and we heard from the former Greens co-leader that there are question marks over the official testing on 1080 concentrations in water.
This is very enlightening. No wonder the data sheets tell us not to allow it into waterways. However NZ it seems makes up their own rules on that one. No research to prove their point, they just tweaked the rules. Here is a link to the information regarding the development of 1080 by Germany for use as a chemical weapon in water supplies.
Not approved in the US! “Very very restricted & controlled areas” only. And here it is chucked around like a veritable lolly scramble. The baits aren’t picked up off public walkways & neither are the poisoned animals collected & disposed off, frequently left to rot in the water where eels and other meat eaters can feed off them (Watch Poisoning Paradise on that one).
Remember the Hunua Ranges drop recently? A Court injunction to stop that one failed & during the proceedings DoC lawyers asked (and were granted) that the opposing lawyers not be allowed to question the DoC scientist. Now doesn’t that say something? Let’s not forget Bill Benfield’s revelation either that a drop in the Hunuas in the ’90s left the water filters packed with 1080 pellets. Good one DoC. And none of the public ever got to hear about it.
Previously I’ve noted the frequent discovery of pellets on tracks, drops going on around tourists, pellets dumped near people fishing, on it goes. The veritable lolly scramble again.
Water & wildlife contamination. Something we are repeatedly told does not happen. The manufacturer’s data sheet warns users not to drop into waterways. NZ has tweaked the rules of course so they can.
You may need to make your own decisions on all of that & make your own plans for non-contamination if necessary. It does not look like anybody else is going to.
Here are the whole pages of the documents with addresses & contact details:
CITIZENS INITIATED REFERENDUM TO BAN ALL CRUEL POISONS.
There has been a recent spate of poisonings on Auckland’s North Shore with distressed residents finding dead and dying birds in Rothesay Bay and Browns Bay for the past couple of weeks.
Fiona Macdougall from Rothesay Bay posted on the local Neighbourly site:
I’m fortunate my dog who ate a dead pigeon wasn’t sick but my friends cat was very ill and a very costly vet bill.
I contacted both DOC and the Council yesterday. Two drugged pigeons were pecked to death yesterday afternoon on Rothesay Bay Beach, amid another 3 carcasses. There was a dead seagull further down the beach and a dead penguin. I was concerned not just about the cruelty to the pigeons but also with impact on the food chain; other wildlife, dogs and children on the beach. The Council Actionline said it was not their area and put me on to DOC. DOC have advised this morning that they and the council and police are aware of the situation and it is suspected to be a poison, alphachloralose, aimed at the pigeons. I would observe that the poisoning is still occurring, so be aware of this if you are going to the Browns Bay or Rothesay Bay beaches. I cannot imagine who would think this is an ok thing to do!
It is so disturbing to witness this cruelty in our beautiful neighbour hood. Early evening yesterday dead birds in clear view by the playground and beach at Rothesay also seagull pecked remains. Young family’s on their beach walks so upset to see this 😔
Browns Bay resident and co-ordinator of the local community group Friends of Sherwood, Tricia Cheel, is not so sure that it can be attributed to alphachloralose if a pigeon carcass has made a cat so ill and indeed if the penguin also died of poison, and notes that the council has recently also deposited many bait stations along the beach front, and even playgrounds in these areas, and she is presently nursing a young wood pigeon that was found on Saturday night unable to fly and very unbalanced and distressed.
(Image to left) Named Boris he (or she?) will be available for interview by appointment only!
Note the golden tufts of baby feathers and contemplate how anyone in their right mind would risk harming him / her.
Whatever the truth of the matter is it is but a mere whiff of the full horror of having these poisons used so freely throughout the country and Friends of Sherwood say that their proposed Citizens Initiated Referendum to ban all cruel and inhumane poisons is long overdue and look forward to the question being put to all New Zealand voters just as soon as possible.
Unfortunately it will take time to collect the 320,000 signatures needed but it is hoped that the whole process may be circumvented sooner rather than later, by Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, who has said her government embodies kindness as well as strength, and it gives her the opportunity to demonstrate both those characteristics by acting immediately to put an end to the torture thousands of animals suffer every day, both in suburbia and in the wild.
The proposal complies with the requirements of the House of Representatives and the Office of the Clerk has advised that the question will go out for public comment on Wednesday 21st November by way of advertisements in national newspapers and notification in the New Zealand Gazette.
People will have until 11th January to comment on the wording with the final question being determined by 7th February 2019; after which time Friends of Sherwood will have 12 months to collect the necessary signatures of 10% of all eligible voters.
Co-ordinator of the group since it began in June 1990, Tricia Cheel says that although they twice successfully delayed the drop of 1080 poison in the Hunuas with interim injunctions, it eventually went ahead leaving two more families devastated by the cruel loss of their beloved dogs, and further down the line a further 8 cows were gruesomely tortured to death by this same poison dropped indiscriminately by helicopter, while countless more animals suffered agonizing deaths, mostly unseen and unheard, in the forests.
Banning the deadly 1080 poison will only go part way to addressing the problem since as more and more animals are demonised in the headlong rush to be predator free by 2050, many more animals are set to suffer similar fates with other equally cruel poisons, including brodifacoum, pindone, cholecalciferol and PAPP, with the latter specifically targeting cats.
The unfortunate by-kill includes many of the species that are purportedly being ‘protected’, but even without that inconvenient truth, as the question states, the intense and prolonged suffering these poisons inflict can never be justified.
SURVEYS SHOW THE UNMISTAKABLE TREND! 32% KIWIS OPPOSED TO 1080 POISON IN 2001 85% KIWIS OPPOSED TO 1080 POISON IN 2018
By Carol Sawyer
The opinion polls show what is happening. A ‘Marlborough Express’ poll in September, 2018, showed 85% of nearly 4,000 people want 1080 BANNED.
The comments poll on ‘The Project NZ’ also in September, revealed even higher figures against 1080.. almost 90%.
The protests on September 8th, 2018, nationwide, despite being made up of mainly rural dwellers, had over 5,000 people out in the streets, in 45 townships, towns and cities!
Watch the video!!!
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Here is the progression, according to surveys and polls:
In November, 2001, 32% were opposed to aerial 1080 poison.
In 2007, 43% were opposed and 12% were undecided.
In 2009, 43% were opposed and 14% undecided
In June 2016, a DoC survey of 4,200 people showed 61% were opposed to aerial poison.
In September, 2018, 85 % of 3,900 people in a ‘Marlborough Express’ survey wanted 1080 banned.
************************************************
On October 29, 2017, I wrote :
NEARLY TWO THIRDS OF NEW ZEALANDERS ARE NOT COMFORTABLE ABOUT AERIAL 1080 POISONING !
See page 8 of the 2016 DoC survey below. This was a survey of 4200 people, in June 2016 :
“The spread of poison bait and herbicides via aircraft are methods of pest control that the majority of the public do not feel comfortable using.”
This figure of 61de% of New Zealanders not happy with aerial poisoning is up from 43 % seven years previously. I suspect the figure will be a lot higher now.
Also, 72% of those surveyed do NOT see deer as a major conservation threat !
It makes the current spate of attacks on the credibility of anti-1080 people by DoC staff, and Director-General of Conservation Lou Sanson, more understandable. Opposition to their massive 1080 poisoning programme is becoming a very big worry for the authorities
Here is the relevant section from a Royal Society Journal with regard to figures in 2009, (43% opposed, 14% undecided).
That document’s link is below the excerpt, and is well worth a look. It is called “Opposition to aerial 1080 poisoning for control of invasive mammals in New Zealand: risk perceptions and agency responses”!!!
“Public concerns over risks and agency messages”
Within the last decade public opposition to the use of 1080 has risen. A national survey in November 2001 (UMR 2001 UMR 2001 . Omnibus results: favourability rating and support for 1080 use (November 2001) . UMR Research Limited , Auckland , , New Zealand . [Google Scholar]) found that 52% of the general public supported 1080 use while 32% were opposed. A UMR Omnibus survey in 2007 asked the question ‘Do you support or oppose the use of 1080 poison to control the impact of possums on native forests and birds, and to control the spread of tuberculosis?’ Only 45% of respondents supported use and 43% opposed, with 12% undecided (Harry Broad, pers. comm. 2009). When asked this question in April 2009, after the ERMA hearings, 43% supported its use, 43% opposed, and 14% were undecided (Harry Broad, pers. comm. 2009). Māori were much less supportive than non-Māori. Although the applicants had hoped that presenting new information on 1080 would reduce public concerns, the extensive ERMA re-assessment process had not done so. Public opinion on any given topic can be influenced by many factors, but ERMA had identified that users of 1080 were partly responsible due to poor communication and consultation practices.”
Ed Note @ 10/5/25: a recent and interesting related article has been added at the end.
“Ceri said her grandchildren … take a little while to get used to killing animals, but once they get into it, they love it.”
“Around 60 children weighed in 165 dead animals … An array of goats heads, possums, turkeys, hares, rabbits, pigs and magpies lay dead in the sun … Ceri Hutchinson, who was on the weigh-in desk, was surprised they hadn’t seen a cat come through “like someone did last year”.”
Headlined “New Zealand Kids Get Into Killing Animals and Love Doing It”, PhD Marc Bekoff comments “New Zealand’s war on wildlife uses youngsters to reach their shameful goal”. Two Kiwi parents have written to the blog expressing their concerns at what their children are being taught. We posted recently here also (cited in psychologytoday’s article) about the normalizing of poison use in our environment and how it is being conveyed to our kids via school textbooks. Also downplaying the toxicity of 1080 poison.
“Unfortunately, it is already clear that the policy [New Zealand’s Predator Free 2050 program] has not been well informed by scientific knowledge or conservation best practice. It also misdirects attention from more fundamental and direct threats to biodiversity protection and recovery.” (Wayne Linklater and Jamie Steer 2018)
This morning I received two very different email messages from New Zealand residents concerning their country’s on-going horrific and regrettable war on wildlife using inarguably uncompassionate and sickening poisons such as 1080 and other brutal methods of killing. They motivated me to revisit what is happening in this country’s massive and violent assault on nonhuman animals (animals) and to reflect on how few people, including some New Zealanders, know about what’a currently happening and what’s planned for the future.
All in all, New Zealand’s wide ranging and egregious assault on non-native animals can’t be justified on ecological or ethical grounds. In an essay titled “Predator Free 2050: A flawed conservation policy displaces higher priorities and better, evidence‐based alternatives” by New Zealand conservation and biodiversity researchers Wayne Linklater and Jamie Steer we read, “New Zealand’s policy to exterminate five introduced predators by 2050 is well‐meant but warrants critique and comparison against alternatives. The goal is unachievable with current or near‐future technologies and resources. Its effects on ecosystems and 26 other mammalian predators and herbivores will be complex. Some negative outcomes are likely. Predators are not always and everywhere the largest impact on biodiversity…the policy is flawed and risks diverting effort and resources from higher environmental priorities and better alternatives.” The ethical problems centering on the intentional killing of millions other animals are abundantly clear. For example, Linklater and Steer write, “The improbability of success and the perception by some that current tools are cruel are substantial barriers to ethically robust outcomes. More compassionate approaches to managing predators (Wallach, Bekoff, Batavia, Nelson, & Ramp, 2018) are not being considered.
The first note I received read: “I just read an article saying you have received hate mail for criticising NZ’s policy, especially in some schools, on possums as pests. I am sorry to hear that. I would just like to say I totally agree with you – it is horrific to teach children to kill and even more horrific that anyone would drown animals. I was born here and had a baby possum when I was a child, whose mother was hit by a car and he was the sweetest thing, absolutely adorable. I think people should let nature work things out. After all it was because of humans that we have possums in NZ and they are just living their lives where they were born, the same as us. Best regards for your inspiring work.” While I have received a few very nasty and vulgar notes about my opposition to, and strong criticisms of, New Zealand’s shameful war on wildlife, the vast majority has been very supportive.
“Most children came in with an animal carcass slumped over their shoulder”
The other email I received with the subject line reading, “It seems to get worse and worse” alerted me to an essay that is available online called “Forgotten World Highway fun: animal carcasses, sausages and fox terrier races.” This piece is about the biennial Whangamomona Kids’ Critter Hunt, “a competition that asks children from near and far to bring biggest and best kills from the past few days in to be weighed and displayed” (please also see “Animal carcasses, psychopathy and school possum hunts“). It contains a number of very disturbing images of kids proudly displaying the animals who they’ve killed, and I urge caution because they are extremely off-putting. Some of the captions for the images read, “Sam Faull, 6, Noah Cameron, 5, Hunter Cameron, 7, and Gus Hutchinson, 8, with their possums at the great Whangamomona Kids’ Critter Hunt,” “Most children came in with an animal carcass slumped over their shoulder,” and “Rueben Pease, 15, with the 170 pound boar he shot in an entry for critter day.” (Note: In a third email in response to this essay of mine I posted earlier, I also received notice about a video called “THE NZ GOVT IS TEACHING YOUR CHILD THAT CLASS 1A ECOTOXIN 1080, BANNED BY MOST COUNTRIES, IS ‘NOT VERY DANGEROUS TO HUMANS’” which normalizes the use of poisons and in which there is discussion of a book titled Poisoning Our Future: Children and Pesticides.)
In “Forgotten World Highway fun: animal carcasses, sausages and fox terrier races” we read, “In the period of two hours around 60 children weighed in 165 dead animals – attaching their names to the carcasses and laying them alongside each other on the ground.” A grandmother also notes, “her grandchildren, who live in Hāwera, take a little while to get used to killing animals, but once they get into it, they love it.” Daniel ‘Pork’ Hutchinson who is president of the Whangamomona Pig Hunt Club claims, “They have a ball.” Even an adult has found killing animals to be addictive (for more discussion please see “Killing Animals Is ‘Weirdly Addictive’ Says New Zealander“).
Kids and animals: Some New Zealand schools are promoting a horrific model
It’s essential to share what’s happening in New Zealand with a wide audience because while a good deal of press has focused on the on-going slaughter and support for it, there are many people who are strongly against it. Some are especially concerned with the training and of youngsters to harm and to kill so-called pests (please also see “Horror at children drowning baby possums at Drury school event” and “Possums and pig hunting fundraiser for country school“), the link between violence toward animals and violence toward humans, and the country’s extremely high rates of domestic violence. In “Possums and pig hunting fundraiser for country school” there are some incredibly disturbing images of kids abusing animals. I received a good number of emails about this essay, in which we learn, “Hundreds attended the family fun day that included all the usual events—the possum carrying obstacle course, the heaviest magpie or rabbit competition, best dressed possum, heaviest goat head and, of course, the gumboot throw” and “The pig hunting opened on Thursday, giving hunters the opportunity to find the heaviest boar. They had more than 100 entries, with hunters registering from as far as Awakino and Whangamomona.”
A girl and a bunny
Source: Pixabay free download
I wrote some about these topics in a number of essays (“Imprinting Kids for Violence Toward Animals,” “Long-Term Effects of Violence Toward Animals by Youngsters,” “Youngsters Encouraged to Kill Possum Joeys in New Zealand,” “It’s a Ghastly Time to Be a Bunny in New Zealand,” and links therein), and also noted that not all youngsters want to kill the animals who they’re told to kill by teachers, school administrators, and other adults. For example, in essay titled “Violence Toward Animals: “Can You Please Help My Daughter?” I wrote about a mother who sent me the following note: “I have seen your recent essays on what is happening in schools throughout my country and I am appalled. Thank you for spreading the word. Can you please help my daughter tell her teachers that she does not want to participate in these types of events and contests?” She also mentioned that other parents agreed with her and were at wit’s end because people in power were telling the kids it was perfectly okay to harm and to kill the animals and to parade around with corpses of the animals they slaughtered. I wrote back that her daughter should simply refuse to partake and be nice about it. She should just say “no,” not make a ruckus, and serve as a model for others who might also not want to kill the so-called pests.
Claims that these animals are being “killed with kindness” are inane. Nicola Toki, the Threatened Species Ambassador of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DoC), offered this up in her defense of the slaughter. There’s no reason at all to glorify killing and disrespect for other beings. And, there will be massive amounts of harm and suffering among the millions of sentient beings who are to be slaughtered. So-called “killing with kindness” is neither the panacea nor is it an acceptable excuse for killing other animals. Ms. Toki writes, “The key to getting it right is to hold onto empathy for other living things along the way.” So, killing other animals is just fine as long as the killers feel for the animals they’re slaughtering. I can imagine some people saying or thinking something like, “I know I’m causing you pain as I kill you, but please understand I’m doing it with kindness because it has to be done.” Of course, the animals who are killed couldn’t care less about how their one and only life is taken.
I hope that everyone in New Zealand who opposes killing contests that include youngsters and adults will speak out against such unnecessary violence. There’s no reason to glorify killing other beings. Speaking out against violence toward other animals is one way to call attention to what is happening and to locate others who agree with this point of view. Future long term effects of harmful poisons and teaching kids to kill animals must be spoken about openly and the more people who do it, the more likely things will change for the better. As the late Gretchen Wyler once said, “Cruelty can’t stand the spotlight.” As like-minded people discover one another, things can change and other animals and other humans will benefit from the kindness, compassion, and respect that are shared. Therein lies hope for the future. It’s time to close down the killing fields once and for all.
About the Author
Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Please do read our recent related article on mainstream media’s take regarding alleged threats to DoC staff about the use of 1080 poison in NZ. Their information does not match the findings of a recent OIA request … to be specific there were actually only 9 threats in the last 31 months, DoC reports there were 93 last month. A very considerable discrepancy there.
People who want a class 1A ecotoxin kept out of their waterways, as the 1080 manufacturer’s warning data instructs, are not violent terrorists. They simply want to protect their families. Please consider all of the info before jumping to conclusions on this.
See the GrafBoys’ channel, tv-wild.com for further info on 1080. Be sure also to watch their 4x international award winning doco, Poisoning Paradise for an exposé of the real facts around the use of 1080. This doco is one your government appears to not want you to see given it is banned from screening on NZTV. Not the first one that hasn’t made it beyond private viewing, I will be posting more on that one later.
For further articles here on 1080 use the ‘categories’ drop down box at the left of the news page. Check out the 1080 pages at the main menu, particularly the sub tab, ‘suspected 1080 poisoning cases’. Educate yourself on the risks & protect your children. Discuss the risks & caution them never to touch the 1080 baits.
Finally, remember what the retired MD Charlie Baycroft said recently …‘if you die from 1080 poisoning, nobody will know because the Ministry of Health is bullying NZ Doctors into not testing for 1080′.
So NZ seems to be able to just bypass the manufacturer’s instructions. And we the public are supposed to just ignore these guidelines too & trust that all’s good? Where is the scientific data that says it’s now safe? The years long scientific testing of 1080 in water? I haven’t seen any. And what other regulations are they bypassing? I for one do not drink town supply water any more. I desisted long ago to avoid ingesting chlorine, the carcinogen they add to stop us getting sick from their sewage and industrial waste discharges put into the waterways. Those additions are called ‘sustainable development’ folks. They help keep corporate profits up & kick the proverbial pollution can down the road.
Below are the manufacturer’s instructions for 1080:
By Carol Sawyer
NO RESTRICTIONS ON 1080 BAITS BEING DROPPED DIRECTLY INTO RIVERS NOW
No buffer zones are required. A river can be any width… like the mighty Clutha in Otago, as it heads out of Lake Wanaka on its 338 km journey to the sea, or the beautiful, clear Burke River in South Westland, or the magnificent brown trout fishery, the Mataura River, (the latter two seen below) in Northern Southland.
Re the aerial 1080 drop on the Eyre Mountains, Northern Southland – On 25 October, 2018, I reported local farmer, Cara Metherell, as saying :
“I asked the Operations Manager ( David Priest of Vector Control Services) about the 3 metre waterway rule. He said some regional councils had different rules. Some were 3 metres, some were 2 metres, and some had none at all.
Apparently the rules were changed so that it would be the same for every region. They changed it to none ( no restrictions ).
There are no rules about the size of the river they can drop it into now apparently.”
See Ban 1080’s press release on the removal of restrictions:
For further articles on 1080 use the ‘categories’ drop down box at the left of the news page. Check out the 1080 pages at the main menu, particularly the sub tab, ‘suspected 1080 poisoning cases’. Educate yourself on the risks & protect your children.
Finally, remember what the retired MD Charlie Baycroft said recently …‘if you die from 1080 poisoning, nobody will know because the Ministry of Health is bullying NZ Doctors into not testing for 1080′.
(Nov. 2018) If all of this does not convince you of how powerfully the media shapes the public’s perception of reality I’m afraid nothing will. Here we have an obvious skewing of numbers to convince you that people who want clean drinking water, who do not want their food sources poisoned, are actually a bunch of violent terrorists. Quite frankly I think they’ve over skewed it this time. It isn’t a matter of a slight margin of difference, it is a very glaring fudging of the facts. The following article is compiled from information posted from research on the ‘No to 1080 Use in NZ’ Facebook page, and from Carol Sawyer. It includes a further update by Carol following a news item on NewsHub last night.
OIA reveals false claims from DoC
“Can we expect our Government agencies like the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC) to tell us the truth?
It would appear not.
Over the past year, there have been increasing claims in the media from people like Lou Sanson, Director-General of the DoC and Nicola Toki, DoC’s ‘Threatened Species Ambassador’ that ‘anti-1080 activists are dangerously out of control’, ‘have gone feral’ and even ‘ are repeatedly making death threats to DoC staff’.
On 31st August this year, we exposed the truth about these lies. We reported the response to an Official Information Act to the New Zealand Police, which asked ‘exactly HOW MANY threats of violence towards DoC staff had been recorded from so-called ‘anti-1080 activists in the past 2 years?’ and perhaps more importantly, ‘how many of these were being upheld?’”
The answer, back then, was six:
Between March 2016 and March 2018 there were a total of only SIX reports of threats to NZ Police, of which, ZERO were being progressed to prosecution. Nil prosecutions.Surprise, surprise!
So since then, from March up to October 2018, how many MORE threats to DoC do you think have been reported to the Police? After all, there was(according to TVNZ in Sept) a “sharp rise in threats to DoC staff”. Numerous media articles have attempted to alarm the public about the ‘dangers’ of ‘anti-1080 activists’. Then there was the commencement of a costly contract with the private security firm, Thompson and Clark (April 2018). Journalists like Tom O’Connor writing opinion pieces with headlines like ‘Anti-1080 protesters’ threats to human life inexcusable’….. so, how many threats were actually reported to the Police?
THREE.
Yes, that’s right, since March 2018 there has been an ‘explosion’ of the numbers of threats to….um,
the same, on average, as the previous two years.
On 7th of November we have a further update on mainstream media’s reporting :
THREATS TO DoC FROM ANTI-1080 PEOPLE
“Well, well, well – tonight we have the government-driven “drama queens” on Newshub coming up with another fantastical story… DoC is apparently trembling in its boots because of threats to shoot down helicopters, string wires across valleys, etc. Their “wheels have been slashed” and their “tyres loosened”… NONE OF THIS IS TRUE! In the Newshub story …
… not a single shred of evidence for its claims was produced.
The story starts off :
“Newshub can reveal the Prime Minister has received multiple threats from anti-1080 extremists including at least one death threat.” However, when Jacinda Ardern is asked ” Have they threatened your life or safety?” she looks uncomfortable and replies “Er, look I..I have been.. had some incidents, er, that I’ve been made aware of, um, but actually… (and then goes on to say she is more concerned about frontline staff).
Meanwhile, back in the real world where we all not only have to defend ourselves against poison but also against the self-interested exaggerations of the poisoners, two OIA requests reveal exactly …
NINE so-called threats in the last 2 years and 7 months! None has progressed to prosecution.
Lou Sanson says there were NINETY-THREE threats last month. The date on the latest OIA response from the NZ Police is 1 November, 2018. How does this work exactly Lou Sanson?
Below are copies of the latest OIA request to Police:
IN CONCLUSION:
Whether any of the 3 alleged threats will progress to a prosecution, remains to be seen. But if previously reported incidents are anything to go by (e.g. a threatening phone call, and a note left on a DoC vehicle) we doubt it very much.
We need to call out DoC about their constant and tiresome Fake News. And we need to make the media accountable for perpetuating their lies. We need to ask for more evidence whenever DoC make a claim; they are simply untrustworthy.
Some examples of recent Fake News articles below.
“Southern police have also revealed they are investigating several threats made last year to sabotage 1080 operations, including one involving the setting of man traps. Department of Conservation (Doc) operations director southern South Island Aaron Fleming said in recent months there had been an increase in threats and harassment to Doc staff and contractors nationwide, including eight in Otago and Southland.” (Otago Daily Times, 6 Oct 2018)
“There are fears for the safety of conservation workers and contractors after recent attacks on their vehicles. In three instances wheel nuts on the vehicles were loosened in acts believed to be connected to protests over the Conservation Department’s use of 1080 poison for pest management. In the most serious case a contractor avoided injury when a wheel came off while he was driving, after its nuts had been loosened. DOC director-general Lou Sanson said toxic bait had been put in a staff letterbox and he had also seen other threatening posts on Facebook recently.” (New Zealand Radio, 29 Sept 2017)
“DOC appalled at latest 1080 threats to staff: The Department of Conservation (DOC) confirms that it has asked New Zealand Police to investigate after receiving a second threatening letter from an anti-1080 protestor in Taranaki. The aggressive letter intensifies threats against DOC staff and claims more sika deer will be released unless DOC stops its use of 1080 to control predators.” (Scoop, 5 December 2017)
“Sharp rise in threats to DOC as anti 1080 protesters hold mass demonstrations” TVNZ, 1 News: Sept 2018 DoC said the intelligence gathering was necessary because of threats made by anti-1080 activists who in some cases had threatened to shoot down helicopters. “They’ve threatened to kill our staff and their families, we’ve had physical confrontation, and we’ve had instances of tampering with vehicles, loosening wheel nuts. “So we needed a specialist security company to help us with that because we just don’t have the resources or expertise,” Mr Maher said. Threats are collated and assessed by Thompson and Clark as to whether they could likely be carried out. If the risk is high they are forwarded onto police. (Radio New Zealand Checkpoint: DOC Using Thompson and Clarke to monitor anti-1080 activists April 23, 2018)
Department of Conservation staff are facing a torrent of online threats and abuse following a recent spike in anti-1080 protest This is having a consequence for frontline DOC staff, Mrs Toki said incidents of threats and abuse in August were significantly higher than usual. “We had eight incidents in just one month alone where staff were physically confronted, abused or harassed and then we had seven abusive phone calls and emails” She said in addition to that there were countless harassment threats and abuse via social media which were followed up with Netsafe and the police. (Radio New Zealand 18 Sept 2018)
An article from Stuff dated 2010, on the gravy train that is 1080. Much has been written on this topic (ie the gravy train aspect) including by the late Bill Benfield in his book The Third Wave. I will be posting his information in the near future. And another up-to-date article to come on the current folk driving the ‘train’.
By TONY WALL, Jun 27 2010 (Stuff)
Controversy over 1080 erupted this month, with five protesters arrested for interfering with a poison drop. In Taupo, a fake bomb was discovered at a firm behind the drops. In the middle of the debate is Taupo mayor Rick Cooper, who believes a 1080 `gravy train’ is making a small group of people rich. Special investigation by Tony Wall.
RICK COOPER looks uncannily like the figure in the oil painting in his Taupo District Council office, right down to the open-neck blue shirt and grey blazer. The subject is not an ancestor or a former mayor, but TV mob boss Tony Soprano. The inspiration? “He shot the bastards, encased them in concrete. He is my mentor – `just get on with it’.”
He is joking, of course, but you suspect His Worship wouldn’t mind meting out some mob justice to those he believes are poisoning the environment with the aerial spread of 1080.
‘You keep finding the same people, the same names, and no one you can independently trust,’ says Cooper about what he terms the ‘1080 gravy train’.
Although Cooper “hates” 1080 – “if I was prime minister I would ban it by lunchtime” – he has no problem with ground control, where the poison is laid by hand in bait stations, targeting possums only.
What enrages him is “indiscriminate aerial bombardment”, which he says is causing “carnage” in our forests, killing everything from insects and plants to birds, pigs, deer and domestic farm animals, as well as threatening waterways.
Cooper’s council has passed a resolution – six for and four against – to advocate for the abolition of aerial 1080 poisoning and to seek alternative possum eradication methods. The Westland District Council has passed a similar resolution and the mayor of Kaikoura has called for a 1080 ban, as a groundswell of opposition to the deadly poison, banned in most countries, builds.
The Department of Conservation, regional councils and the Animal Health Board use 1080 to control possums in order to protect forests and birdlife and to prevent the spread of bovine TB. In 2007, after a lengthy submissions process, the Environmental Risk Management Agency (Erma) found 1080 was safe and decided to allow its continued use, including aerial operations.
But that has not silenced opponents such as Cooper, who fired off emails to all the agencies involved, as well as Prime Minister John Key, in a desperate attempt to halt a 1080 drop over 26,000ha of the Kaingaroa State Forest east of Taupo this month.
The operation was unnecessary, Cooper says, as the terrain was easily accessible – “it’s flat country my grandmother could ride her bike around” – and could have been done by foot. He says the obsession with aerial operations is denying work to possum trappers and undermining the trade in meat and fur.
A 1080 “gravy train” keeps the aerial drops going, Cooper claims. There is too much money being made for them to be abolished, he says, conspiratorially. He talks of closed-door deals, conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency from the agencies involved. “I think it’s a bit like something died in the back paddock and hasn’t been buried.”
Cooper points to multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to a local firm, Epro Ltd, to spread 1080 from the air. Its director and co-owner, Roger Lorigan, used to work at Environment Waikato, which issues resource consents for 1080 work, in its pest management unit. A former colleague, Kevin Christie, also has his own firm, Ecofx based in Otorohanga, which has also won big contracts.
Their boss at Environment Waikato was John Simmons, now the biosecurity and natural heritage group manager at the council, in charge of pest management. In the late 90s, the council sold its possum control business to Lorigan and Christie, and Cooper claims they have been milking it ever since. However, his concerns were not shared by the auditor-general, who in a 2004 report found no evidence of any conflict of interest.
But Cooper remains suspicious. “It doesn’t matter where you go with this stuff, you keep finding the same people, the same names, and no one you can independently trust. My question is, what methodology did they use to sell those companies?”
Cooper has been challenging Environment Waikato chairman Peter Buckley on the issue. Buckley says he initially had concerns about how the companies were set up, but since becoming chairman has been satisfied that everything was above board. Lorigan says they were simply management buy-outs of pest destruction businesses, no different to those conducted by several other councils around the country. He says that 1080 contracts awarded to his firm are won fairly. “We just tender along with everyone else.”
Simmons says allegations of bias and closed-door deals were raised by a rival operator in 2004, and dismissed by the auditor-general. “It is disappointing that this has again surfaced unnecessarily.” He says Epro and Ecofx are experts in their field and, “I am sure the majority of ratepayers… have a high level of assurance in the professional manner in which the work is undertaken.”
A copy of the auditor-general’s report, provided to the Sunday Star-Times, shows that, while there was no evidence that Simmons had ever had any financial interest in Epro or Ecofx and there was nothing to suggest their relationship was inappropriate, there was another conflict, involving an “independent consultant” employed by the council to act as moderator and recorder in the 1080 contract process.
The person had a business relationship with both Epro and Ecofx, and while the council knew this, it had done nothing about it. Figures released to the Star-Times by Environment Waikato show it has paid around $2 million to Epro and Ecofx for aerial 1080 contracts over the past 10 years, but most of the contracts the firms won were with the Animal Health Board, which refuses to reveal payments for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
Epro and Ecofx recently applied for 10 and 20-year consents to continue aerial 1080 operations on a non-notified basis, although they later withdrew the applications and settled for year-long consents. (Their current 10-year consents are due to expire next month.)
“We kicked up such a stink they had to back out,” Cooper says. “That’s protecting your business isn’t it? Non-notified consents, 10 years for a poison. You can’t even put a bedroom on your house without a resource consent.”
Lorigan says Cooper’s allegations and inflammatory comments are inciting threats against his firm. Just a day after the Star-Times visited Epro this month, staff discovered a suspicious package – a 20-litre container with a clock and protruding wires – on machinery at its depot. Bomb disposal experts were called in and houses evacuated, but it was a hoax.
The incident came a day after two dogs died, apparently after eating 1080 pellets by the side of the Napier-Taupo highway. A friend of the owner later paraded the body of one of the dogs through the middle of Taupo in a wheelbarrow.
Lorigan says the bomb hoax proves anti-1080 protesters are “terrorists”.
“You just get sick of it, where’s it going to end? We’ve had threats and stuff like that, at the end of the day we’re just a contractor. That’s what drives me nuts, we’re just a business.
“Rick’s taking it very personal and that’s quite a shame. We’re a business that has employed 50 people, I find it very disappointing that a mayor can do that in his own town. Why isn’t he worried about how the town is going and promoting tourism?”
Cooper does not condone the bomb hoax, but says he understands the anger of whoever was behind it.
“There are a lot of disappointed people around this district that know the truth behind this madness. I’m glad I have no part in this diabolical 1080 nonsense because if I did, I fear I would have been tarred and feathered.”
COOPER IS an unlikely crusader against 1080. Your typical protester is a bearded, Swanndri-wearing bushwhacker, but Cooper made his fortune selling cars, owns half of the commercial real estate in Taupo – “I’m the biggest ratepayer in this town… $280,000 a quarter” – and races Mustangs in his spare time. He gives his $81,000 mayoral salary to charity.
But he is also a keen deer hunter and has “hated” 1080 most of his life. Soon after he won the mayoralty for the first time in 2007, Epro bungled a 1080 drop at Turangi.
“They were spraying 1080 all over the place down the bottom of the lake… they threw it across this place where these kids’ ponies were. I go down there… can you imagine the scene? You’ve got four horses thrashing and dying on the ground, one takes four days to die. I was going, `What is going on in this country? How in God’s name did a helicopter pilot biff this shit here, in this horse paddock?’ To this day those kids haven’t even had an apology.”
Epro, which failed to tell the owners to move the horses, was formally warned by Environment Waikato and a year later the regional council finally paid the owners $9100 compensation.
The incident convinced Cooper to campaign for the abolishment of aerial 1080 drops. He has spent so much time on the issue the past three years he has had to employ a “mayoral support officer”, Graham Sperry, who is chairman of the anti-1080 New Zealand Wildlands Biodiversity Management Society, to take up some of the 1080 workload.
Documentary maker Clyde Graf, whose film on 1080, Poisoning Paradise, has been nominated for awards in the UK, is a hunting companion of Cooper. He says for 1080 opponents, having the mayor in their corner has been invaluable.
“He’s a fairly staunch, brave sort of a guy,” Graf says. “He doesn’t get pushed around easily, he just stands up for what he believes in. His position as mayor, he’s not trying to defend [1080], he’s not sucking up to bureaucracies and the big bullies, following government policy – because 1080 is locked into government policy.”
But others are not so impressed.
The Conservation Department says it is “disappointed” the council has not recognised the “key role” aerial 1080 plays in protecting vulnerable wildlife such as kiwi, while the Animal Health Board, which spent $53m on possum control the past financial year, claims inaccurate comments have been made about the aerial use of the poison. Board chief executive William McCook disputes Cooper’s claim the east Taupo drop zone was flat country that could have been covered by foot.
He says the area is extensively forested and poses some “serious health and safety risks” for ground control operators. Aerial control is the most cost-effective method, he says, and provides even coverage. McCook says 80% of the operations in the region are ground based, using traps and poison.
Ailsa Gathergood, a Taupo district councillor and farmer who voted against the resolution to advocate for the abolishment of aerial 1080, says farmers are generally in favour of it to protect their cattle from TB. Birdlife in bush areas she has visited has bounced back after aerial drops, she says. Gathergood says farmers are feeling resentment that they did not get to put their side of the story before the council passed its resolution.
Will it cost Cooper votes? “We’ll see what happens at the next local body elections [in October],” she says.
Cooper claims not to care. “It could go either way, but I am true to my beliefs and I don’t give a shit if it sees me out of here – I’ll just go fishing.”
AT EPRO’S base on Broadlands Rd, there is a framed notice on the wall from Environment Waikato, praising the work the firm has done to prevent the spread of bovine TB.
Lorigan says in the mid 90s, Taupo had 250 cattle herds on movement control because of TB – today there are none. “Isn’t that pretty damn good?”
He confirms 1080 contracts have been worth millions to his firm, but denies it has made him wealthy. “Do you know any millionaire possum hunters?” Costs include helicopters, poison, staff and vehicles, he says.
Lorigan says aerial 1080 drops are more cost effective than ground control – helicopters can cover 20,000ha in two days, but the average man only 20ha a day. He believes 1080 is safe. Cooper claims a hunting estate Lorigan owns near the southern end of Lake Taupo has never had 1080 dropped on it, but Lorigan says that is simply not true. “I’m a mad-keen hunter, and I don’t have a problem with it [1080].”
Lorigan says incidents where pets and domestic farm animals have died after eating 1080 were “human error”, and he’s not talking his own.
“It’s not the poison’s fault. It’s like if a dog runs out on the road and gets run over, is it the car’s fault? It’s the owner, and that’s what the story is with most of the problems with 1080 – people don’t take responsibility for their own dogs or for their domestic animals, keeping them under control.”
That comment shows Lorigan’s lack of compassion, Cooper says, and points out that the horses Epro killed in 2007 were in their own paddock.
Cooper questions the need for 1080 at all. He says possums simply aren’t there any more. He recently went spotlighting and in four hours, saw just two possums. He and other 1080 opponents have tried to prise data from the AHB showing possum numbers before and after aerial operations.
The board refuses to supply the information, McCook telling the Star-Times: “The AHB does not provide data like that requested by Mr Cooper because it forms just one aspect of the decision to undertake a pest control operation.
“This data may be interpreted in isolation from other contributing and often complex technical information, which has the potential to give an incomplete and even misleading perspective of why an operation is to take place.”
This just adds fuel to Cooper’s fire. He suspects the numbers are being “cooked” to justify further drops and keep the gravy train running.
“A lot of focus has been on `these anti-1080 radicals’,” Cooper says. “The funny thing though, is the anti-1080 people have got none of this [money] at stake, and people who like 1080 have got lots of it at stake – the helicopter operator, the farmer, the Animal Health Board guys on a hundred and fifty f—— thousand a year, the guys with their three-piece suits driving around in their BMWs, and the Epros the Ecofxs.
“If we all put the flag up now and said, `we’ve got this under control, possum populations are right down, we don’t need you [aerial operators] any more’, what would happen? The gravy train would stop.”
For all his strong words, Cooper has been powerless to stop the drops – this month Epro completed the east Taupo drop, on behalf of the AHB. Environment Waikato and other regional councils issue resource consents for aerial drops, and each operation has to be approved by the medical officer of health for the district. Local councils can make submissions, but essentially are cut out of the decision-making loop.
Cooper says he will keep up his vocal campaign against the poison until those in power start listening.
“My job is to protect the environment and the inhabitants therein. How do we stop it? It’s a real good question. It’s a bit like starting on P – how do you get off the shit? The only way is people power – that’s all we’ve got.”
1080 – a controversial killer
Sodium monofluoroacetate, or 1080, has been used for about 50 years in New Zealand to control possums. It is a chemical reproduction of a naturally occurring, biodegradable toxin which exotic plants produce. It has accidentally killed dogs, deer, horses, cows, and birds after being dropped from the air.
The SPCA is against the poison because of the cruel way it kills – animals can take days to die. Proponents of its use say it breaks down in the environment – opponents say it is a threat to our waterways, not to mention our “clean, green” image. Possum numbers are estimated to be the same today – about 70 million – as decades ago.
Opponents of 1080 say this is evidence the poison programme hasn’t worked.
Supporters say without it, possum numbers would be even higher. New Zealand uses most of the world’s supplies of 1080, and it is banned in most other countries. It is imported from the US by Animal Control Products Ltd, a state-owned enterprise, which mixes the poison into cereal bait and sells it to contractors such as Epro.
The contractors are hired by the Conservation Department and regional councils, which want possums eradicated to protect birdlife and forests, and by the Animal Health Board, an incorporated society tasked with eradicating bovine tuberculosis, which could cost farmers billions if it gets out of control. For this reason, the powerful lobby group Federated Farmers supports the use of 1080, as does Forest and Bird. In 2007, the Environmental Risk Management Agency reviewed the use of 1080, taking submissions and eventually ruling the poison was safe and could continue to be used. Opponents say the review was a whitewash and relied on dodgy science. Some 1080 protesters have been labelled “terrorists”, after a 1080 contractor’s dog was deliberately fed 1080 on the West Coast in 2008, and just this month a fake bomb was left at Epro’s depot in Taupo.
Taupo man Chris Short epitomises the lengths 1080 opponents are prepared to go to make their point. In 1995, he hijacked a crop-spraying helicopter and forced the pilot to fly him into Tongariro National Park. He spent eight months in jail. Last year a terminally ill Short spent six days on Mt Tongariro protesting 1080. He vowed to die on the mountain but was eventually persuaded to come down.
“On the night of the 30th November [the day of the last 1080 drop] a single kea was heard screaming in the trees behind the township. After that the five kea in Haast township were never seen again. Two years later there are still no kea in Haast Township … twenty years of Compound 1080 in the Haast Valley has killed our kea population … and on the 15th November 2018 the Department of Conservation plan to aerially drop Compound 1080 poison again on Haast……”
The photo above is the saddest thing I have seen in years – taken today – a flax bush in full flower and not a single kea to be seen.
Back in November 2010 the flax bushes in Haast township were filled with the noise and antics of kea fighting over the sweet nectar. One evening I saw seven kea in one bush. The next photo was taken on the 10th November 2010……..
Kea in flax bushes in Haast township
By April 2016 we had five kea permanently living in the town – this photo below was taken on the 12th April 2016………..
Kea sitting on the roof of the Police Station in Haast township 12th April 2016
But on the 30th November 2016 the Department of Conservation as part of their Battle for our Birds campaign aerial spread Compound 1080 near Haast township (True Left Haast drop zone)……..
1080 signs (Cron Creek) State Highway 6, 1st December 2016
1080 sign on farm just south of Haast township (State Highway 6th) 30th November 2016
On the night of the 30th November a single kea was heard screaming in the trees behind the township. After that the five kea in Haast township were never seen again. Two years later there are still no kea in Haast Township ………..
So the flax bush flowers and there is nothing to eat its sweet nectar. Compound 1080 does not increase native bird numbers………… Sixty years of Compound 1080 has not saved New Zealand wildlife…….. twenty years of Compound 1080 in the Haast Valley has killed our kea population………..
And on the 15th November 2018 the Department of Conservation plan to aerially drop Compound 1080 poison again on Haast……
NOTE re updates: I’m getting updates from people so will add them as I hear. I’ve added info provided via social media about avenues of possible action for Iwi anywhere in NZ who do not want aerial 1080 drops. See below.
Re the FB Share button: I’ve twice had to edit & reinstate it. Sometimes it appears only on the news page when you scroll right down to the article, but not when you’ve clicked on the link to the article. This happens at times with controversial posts. Just a heads up in that you may need to share from the url.
This drop is to take place between October 23 and December 7, or thereabouts depending on the weather. (UPDATE: the walking tracks are closed until after the drop apparently).
Another local who has walked the Gorge area for 20 years says it has always been trapped or bait stationed (see her full comment at the end). This was confirmed by a second person.
If you do live in the Manawatu, please do watch Poisoning Paradise for the information DoC or the Manawatu authorities won’t be telling you.
Poisoning Paradise is a locally made documentary that has won no less than four international environmental film awards, however your Government has banned it from NZ television. I wonder why? Perhaps they don’t want you to see all the evidence and make up your own mind about its safety? You can watch it at this link.
Walking tracks will be closed the article says, however if you walk on them when they open, do be on the lookout for stray baits as they are not always picked up by DoC other observers have noted (as they should be). We have posted photographs of kids standing by them on walking tracks elsewhere in the country. Likewise, don’t take your pets there, dogs are very susceptible to 1080 poisoning and around 65+ dogs die of it each year. It also takes a very long time for poisoned animals to die. A veterinarian says death from 1080 is like two days of electrocution. There is no antidote to 1080 either & a retired NZ Doctor has warned us if you die from it nobody will know because the MoH is bullying Doctors into not testing for it. This is evidenced going by the apparent cover up on the recent poisoning of the Putaruru family, and the same following the death of the 23 year old US hiker in the South Island in 2006 after which the NZ lab lost her heart.
Remember the Government changed the rules so that 1080 can now be dropped directly into your waterways without a resource consent from regional councils. And yet the warning on the manufacturer’s data sheet clearly says do not drop it into waterways. Then there was a former co leader of the Green Party who expressed concern about the testing of post 1080 drop water. The frequency of finding 1080 in water samples is at odds with independent testing he said. Official figures say 1080 is detected only 3% of the time however, from the calculations of an independent scientist that incidence is closer to 60%.
Even if I did believe the official info from DoC on how safe 1080 is in our drinking water, I still would not be drinking it any time soon. Who in their right mind wants to ingest a deadly Class 1A ecotoxin at any stage or amount of dilution?
Stay safe people & look at all the information, not just the official dialogue.
Postscript:
Mary Lewis, a Palmerston North person has written to me stating:
I have walked the Manawatu Gorge Area for about 20 years and have never seen deforestation or signs of possums or rats in day time or night. One of the main reasons for this is that the area has been continually trapped and bait stationed. There are plenty of birds when the food is available. Kererus feed off the Cabbage tree flowers and Nikau flowers and Berries and Tuis are there in number when Ratas and other flowers are available. Ruru and fantails need the insects and 1080 is going to put the whole ecosystem out of wack and fall into the contributing streams of the Manawatu River. DOC knows of the pain and destruction that 1080, especially aerial drops, make on our country, but just ignore any science or facts that go against their actions. Why are they targeting a family friendly track, where people do take their dogs on leashes. This is our country not DOC’s or the Government’s, so why don’t we have a say against poisoning our land.
From social media pages, possible avenues for action for Iwi regarding 1080 aerial drops:
*Due process by law to stop dropping 1080
All whanua/ hapu Maori Incorporations must notify the Councils who to contact and the address of the whanua/ hapu Maori Incorporations Registered Office, so they can inform the whanua/ hapu Maori Inc of any Resource consent applications:So Resource consent has been approved and we whanua/ hapu Maori Inc did not know of it, we can appeal to the Environment Court on 2 grounds:
1) breach of Natural Justice (no Notice)
2) & breach of Natural right ( right to possession of our property)
Also, Court of Appeal overturned “90 Mile beach case” http://archived.ccc.govt.nz/…/SuppLegisClause1Attachment.pdfWhen the Councils contact whanua/ hapu Maori Inc for consultation, tell them to Transfer power to our Inc in terms of Section 33 of R M Act 1991.Each whanau/hapu – Maori Inc to do file :TRESPASS & WRONGFUL OCCUPATION
• is in our jurisdiction
• District Court has no jurisdiction to trespass us.
• So we file the same charges against them in our Marae Court. Section 144Order for Interlocutory Injunction into High Court and give a copy. Sec 75
xiii) Section 8 of RMAct: Rangatiratanga over land, forests, fisheries, estates and all other Taonga tukuiho as in section 2 ( control of Maori land ) in the exercise of Rangatiratanga.
And whereas it is desirable to recognise that land is a taonga tuku iho of special significance to Maori people and, for that reason, to promote the retention of that land in the hands of its owners, their whanau, and their hapu, and to protect wahi tapu: and to facilitate the occupation, development, and utilisation of that land for the benefit of its owners, their whanau, and their hapu
and to protect wahi tapu:
Nā te mea i riro nā te Tiriti o Waitangi i motuhake ai te noho a te iwi me te Karauna: ā, nā te mea e tika ana kia whakaūtia anō te wairua o te wā i riro atu ai te kāwanatanga kia riro mai ai te mau tonu o te rangatiratanga e takoto nei i roto i te Tiriti o Waitangi: ā, nā te mea e tika ana kia mārama ko te whenua he taonga tuku iho e tino whakaaro nuitia ana e te iwi Māori, ā, nā tērā he whakahau kia mau tonu taua whenua ki te iwi nōna, ki ō rātou whānau, hapū hoki, a, a ki te whakangungu i ngā wāhi tapu hei whakamāmā i te nohotanga, i te whakahaeretanga, i te whakamahitanga o taua whenua hei painga mō te hunga nōna, mō ō rātou whānau, hapū hoki: ā, nā te mea e tika ana kia tū tonu he Te Kooti, ā, kia whakatakototia he tikanga hei āwhina i te iwi Māori kia taea ai ēnei kaupapa te whakatinana.
Whereas the Treaty of Waitangi established the special relationship between the Maori people and the Crown: And whereas it is desirable that the spirit of the exchange of kawanatanga for the protection of rangatiratanga embodied in the Treaty of Waitangi be reaffirmed: And whereas it is desirable to recognise that land is a taonga tuku iho of special significance to Maori people and, for that reason, to promote the retention of that land in the hands of its owners, their whanau, and their hapu, and to protect wahi tapu: and to facilitate the occupation, development, and utilisation of that land for the benefit of its owners, their whanau, and their hapu: And whereas it is desirable to maintain a court and to establish mechanisms to assist the Maori people to achieve the implementation of these principles.
it clearly states …………………………… to promote the retention of that land in the hands of its owners, their whanau, and their hapu, and to protect wahi tapu. How to manageand deal with all district councils,
(a) They “must” consult with the whanau/hapu Maori Inc for all Resource consent applications.
(b) Section 20, they must consult with the Maori Land Court for advice.
(c) They must find out from the MLC who are the owners of the land concerned
(d) The rules of Natural justice
(e) Kawanatanga for the protection of Rangatiratanga.
i) Preamble of Te Ture Whenua 1993
ii) Tiriti o Waitangi 1840
Inc at the same time must convene a Hui with beneficiaries, but needs putea, so:
i) charge Council for Resource consent as the owner
ii) set fees to convene a Hui
iii) set fees or expenses for us to consult with our beneficiaries
iv) advertise for general public to make submission to us
v) file a proposal for Resource consent ( ? )
vi) we hear objection for Resource consent
If the Council has an Advisory Committee:
i) we notify them of Transfer of Power
ii) They are unconstitutional
iii) No legal identity to hear any submissions
iv) Unconstituted under Te Ture Whenua 1993
v) Not a legal entity within the meaning of Rangatiratanga
vi) We are constituted under NZ Constitution Act 1852
vii) They constituted under 1986 NZ constitution Act which has no legal entity within the meaning of Te Ture Whenua 1993 Act
viii) 1989 Maori Electoral Act: Royal Commission on Electoral Reform found that Maori Elec–? Had no constitutional aspect, because their inclusion into Parliament is not based on a Maori mandate
ix) But a Maori Inc has a mandate of the Section 5 (Crown)
x) Under sec 247 mandate of Tangata Whenua has Mana whenua
xi) Council cannot, Parliament cannot
xii) After powers are transferred, claim to Council under sec 8
xiii) Section 8 of RMAct: Rangatiratanga over land, forests, fisheries, estates and all other Taonga tukuiho as in section 2 ( control of Maori land ) in the exercise of Rangatiratanga.
Even the Governor General cannot stand in the way of Maori. Section 2 & 5
FORCE A JUDGE to make a Decision
• Sec 2 says I control the land
• Sec 5 says, you are her subject
• Sec 17 (2) says he must abide by the owners wishes
• Sec 17 (2a) says, you must do what you are told
• Sec 6 says, record your decision
• So you tell the Judge to make a decision if he wont, tell him to sit in a corner while you make the decision.
For other articles on 1080 poison see ‘categories’ (left of news page) and/or visit our 1080 pages (main menu, top of page) especially the ‘Suspected 1080 Poisoning’ one. Our resources page also has much info on groups, sites etc for further info, particularly that of the documentary makers (Poisoning Paradise) tv-wild.com.
Below is the Stuff article about the impending Manawatu aerial drop:
DoC ADMITS RAT CONTROL ONLY WORKS FOR 3 – 6 MONTHS !! HEAPHY VALLEY AND COAST – TO HAVE ANNUAL AERIAL 1080 POISONING
I have been sent this letter with the comment “Look at this Carol, this is the first time I have seen DOC admit that the poison only holds back numbers of rodents for 3-6 months!”
It is indeed the first time they have admitted that! DoC say in their letter :
“The Department estimates that each pest control operation will provide a window for native species to breed and thrive that lasts around three to six months before rat numbers start to build up again.”
Look at the attached graph… only five months after the 1080 drop, the rat numbers had become HIGHER than they were at the time of the drop and were continuing to climb.
The 20,667 ha area extends over the western end of the Heaphy track, and the drop will take place between October and December, 2018.
This letter is to let you know abut changes to pest control work happening in the Heaphy Valley and along the Heaphy Coast in the coming year.
The Department is moving to trial an annual rodent control program starting from this year in this area due to consistently high numbers of rats outside operation times. These high numbers are impacting the bird and bat populations in the area and threatening other vulnerable native species.
The Department estimates that each pest control operation will provide a window for native species to breed and thrive that lasts around three to six months before rat numbers start to build up again.
The pest control will be closely monitored to ensure it is obtaining the outcomes needed to protect species.
Over the coming months, we will be conducting a consultation process with landowners, the local community and other interested parties.
A fact sheet containing further information on the pest control in the Heaphy Valley and coast is attached.The map shows the indicative boundaries of the operation.
DoC will be contracting a local pest control operator to carry out the work and notifications will be sent out closer to the time of the operation.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of what is proposed then please do not hesitate to contact me at the address below by September 30th, 2018.
Kind regards,
Jess Curtis
Senior Ranger – Bathurst Project
Dept of Conservation”
Remember the NZ Government has changed the rules so that 1080 poison, a Class 1A Ecotoxin, can be dropped directly into our waterways, without a consent from regional councils. They assure us it is perfectly safe and breaks down in water. And yet, here we see historically it was added to water to poison rats. How ‘scientific’ is that? We have two conservation academics with multiple degrees to their names, one considered the ‘founder of modern pest management in NZ’, discussing their concerns at the science used by DoC to back their Predator Free 2050 program. They say it “has not been well informed by scientific knowledge or conservation best practice”. Now, aside from the questions raised about the reliability of the science behind this ambitious yet questionable program, we have a seeming reluctance by the authorities to test for 1080 should you get poisoned. Please check out our 1080 ‘Suspected Poisoning’ page to explore that notion. And more recently we had a retired NZ physician threatened with prosecution for advising the public how to go about getting themselves tested should they suspect they’ve been affected by a nearby 1080 aerial drop. He adds that should you die of it, nobody will know.
Finally, on dilution. To cover that whole topic thoroughly requires a post of its own, however bear in mind the manufacturer’s data sheet warns us not to place 1080 in waterways at all:
Then there was a former co leader of the Green Party who expressed concern about the testing of post 1080 drop water. The frequency of finding 1080 in water samples is at odds with independent testing he said. Official figures say 1080 is detected only 3% of the time however, from the calculations of an independent scientist that incidence is closer to 60%. Lastly we have to ask ourselves, if 1080 is so safe in water because it breaks down, then why was there ever a regional council consent required for it in the first place? All in all not good enough in my opinion. Keeping a Class 1A ecotoxin out of your drinking, or any other water really isn’t rocket science.
During the 1950s prior to being banned in the US, 1080 was added to water to poison ships’ rats
Contrary to recent articles in the New Zealand media (including one seemingly supported by the Toxicology Dept of the University of Otago), 1080 poison does not become ‘safe’ when dissolved in water. In fact, historically (before it was banned), it was used in the USA as a poisoned water solution (along with DDT, before that was banned too), to kill the rats on cargo ships, in order to reduce the risk of rats’ fleas carrying a plague disease to humans.
In an academic public health journal, an article was published by Dr John H. Hughes on Aug. 11, 1950.
Entitled “1080 (Sodium Fluoroacetate) Poisoning of Rats on Ships” (Public Health Reports (1896-1970), Vol. 65, No. 32, pages 1021-1028) Dr Hughes explained how “the recommended concentration [for killing rats] is one-half ounce or 14 grams of the poison [which was] dissolved in one gallon of water.” The rats would drink from the poisoned-water bait-stations (which were made of paper cups) and die. Thousands of rats were found dead on 379 different ships, during inspections of the ships’ holds that took place between 24 hours to over a week after the poisoned water had been positioned. The dead rats were tested for poisoning to better understand the processes involved and then safely incinerated because the scientists knew of the high risks that the carcasses would contaminate other areas or poison other animals. The poisoned-water bait-stations were removed because “evaporation made the poisoned water more concentrated” – and therefore more lethal for unintended species.
Later, 1080 poison would be banned for use in ships’ holds, partly because, inevitably, many of the poisoned rats were NOT found: the risk of secondary poisoning was deemed to be too high.
If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.
including the head of Goldman Sachs
54K shares to date on facebook. Folk are outraged at what is coming to light and rightly so. I personally began researching the independent information about 1080 after watching the documentary by the GrafBoys called 
![IMG_9825[1].JPG](https://envirowatchnz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img_98251.jpg)
(Nov. 2018) If all of this does not convince you of how powerfully the 
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