This is an article from Fishing and Outdoors that exposes the finer details around the assault of Graeme Sturgeon who came to observe the unloading of 1080 in the CBD of Whitianga. This is the March 2018 issue published on Mar 3, 2018.
For our coverage of this issue as it unfolded go here and here
Thanks to reader manukapath for this link. Have a read of the background info at fyi.org.nz, but do also scroll right down to the last entry on Feb 24th (still unanswered) by S.C. McKee, a scathing commentary on what DoC should be doing and isn’t. Questions DoC is not answering adequately. For further background on the Whitianga story type Whitianga into the search box here, or go to 1080 under ‘categories’ (left of page). Finally, for those in the Horowhenua, there was a fire in a 1080 storage facility (Horizons) in Levin that the Council did not know about until a week later with word from at least one person of health effects following. Read the article here.
QUOTE:
“Question 1 ( under OIA)
Whom did you inform about the storage of the ecotoxic baits in the Liquor King building? ( from June 8th to October 17th )
Question 2 ( under OIA)
When you read the MSDS, why did you not prepare an emergency response plan knowing that in the worst case scenario of a warehouse fire, extremely toxic gas ( hydrogen fluoride) would be produced, requiring evacuation of anyone in its path?
Question 3 ( under OIA)
When you read the MSDS, you would have read that firemen attending a fire of the baits would have to be trained in the use of breathing apparatus. Why did you not check with the fire chief that they had that equipment and that his staff were trained in the use of breathing apparatus?
It is not responsible to simply dismiss my questions as fear-mongering .
Every organisation has to have health and safety and emergency plans for a worst-case scenario. School teachers when taking students on a walk or a school trip have to do a Risk-Assessment and plan for contingencies. Managing hazardous substances such as 23,700 kg of Class A1 ecotoxic baits carries with it a huge responsibility for health and safety. Especially it being stored in the middle of a town.
Under the Health and Safety at Work ( Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 from December 1st 2017, you are most certainly required have to have an emergency response plan.
The HSNO Controls for Sodium fluroroacetate cereal-based pellets state the following:
You need an emergency response plan.
Refer to the Emergency Preparation section of Your Practical Guide.
You need to refer to the safety data sheets for your substances to find out what personal protective equipment people using each substance need to wear. Also refer to the Keep Safe with Hazardous Substances section of Your Practical Guide.Under HSE, all substances require the use of protective clothing.
You need secondary containment.
Under the Official Information Act, I expect to receive a reply within 20 days, else I may complain to the Ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
S C McKee
READ MORE OF THE BACKGROUND AT THE LINK BELOW:
Clyde Graf is with Carol Sawyer and Kathy White.
The Crown vs Graeme Sturgeon – 1080 Poison Assault – “Charges Dismissed” … here’s the post-decision video interview …
THE WORST THREE MONTHS GRAEME AND JULIE STURGEON HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED
So very, very wrong what these good people were put through.
Graeme Sturgeon is interviewed here by Clyde and Steve Graf. Frankly speaking, I feel privileged to know such amazing people.
Yet despite what Graeme and Julie have been through, as Graeme says here they will not give up the fight to save their water and wildlife.
Other heroes to me are hardworking and generous-spirited John and Denise Allen, who organised a campsite on the outskirts of Thames and set up to cater for however many people turned up – up to 300 people if necessary.
Fighting 1080 poison is fighting the NZ government. There is no environmental battle harder than that.
So much of the time it feels impossible, futile – insane even – to be trying to stop this taxpayer-funded, propagandised industry, where helicopter companies like EPRO and HeliOtago make many tens of millions every year; where senior management in DoC and OSPRI are on salaries they could never hope to replicate, even closely, in the private sector; where trucking firms like those owned by Trojan Holdings ( Northern Southland Transport, Upper Clutha Transport, Cromwell Transport ), transport all the 1080 required in the lower South Island all the way from Whanganui in the North Island to points south; where the factory that manufactures all the 1080 baits in NZ, Animal Control Products, ( trading as Orillion ), in Whanganui,, has two nominal directors – the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Agriculture – and has a chairman, Terry Murdoch, who is an owner of Christchurch Helicopters Ltd – which company has a contract with DoC re orange-fronted parakeet translocation and has Dept of Conservation written on their helicopters ! Oh, and let us not forget one of the owners of Christchurch Helicopters is national All Black hero Richie McCaw…. Carol Sawyer
Photo: screen shot from TV Wild’s interview
For previous articles about the assault on Graeme Sturgeon go to this link or go to 1080 at categories at the left of news page.
Great news that this case has been thrown out. Fairly quiet from mainstream on that yesterday. An article link from this morning (21 Feb) has been published by Stuff.co.nz (see below).
Here are the updates as published at Facebook thanks to Carol Sawyer. (Go here for our previous coverage of Graeme’s story).
THAMES, COROMANDEL – GRAEME STURGEON – CASE DISMISSED !
20 Feb 2018
Perhaps everyone would like to be reminded about the Police Summary of Facts which should now be retitled the Summary of Lies ! ( Unfortunately, the aggressor, Richard Lane appears to have got away scot free).
Also, here is Graeme Sturgeon’s statement, made at the time of the assault on him by “security guard” Richard Lane :
STATEMENT BY GRAEME STURGEON RE UNPROVOKED ASSAULTS BY DoC SECURITY IN PUBLIC CARPARK, WHITIANGA CBD, 17 OCT. 2017
“Statement made after the events of Tuesday 17 th October behind Liquor King in Whitianga :
.
I was camped with four other people on a property up Kaimarama Road awaiting an 1080 Airdrop that was due to go into the area the following morning.
About eight o’clock we receive a message to say there was a strong smell of 1080 in the housing estate behind Liquor King and DOC was loading trucks with 1080 there in the middle of town.
We were anxious to get photos of such a crazy action
so I drove into Whitianga. The directions given were a bit hazy so upon spotting Liquor King I drove up the road alongside Liquor King and around the back of the building. As I turned the right angle corner at the back of the building I came upon 5 or six trucks that I had not seen until that moment.
I stopped and was in the process of taking off my seat belt when my door flew open and I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and dragged from my vehicle. So much happened in the next few seconds that I am a bit hazy about, after receiving a brutal fist in the face. I remember a woman’s raised voice and seeing a
Security Guard standing there in front of me saying ‘Well he is bigger than me’
As my nose was bleeding I staggered back to my vehicle to get some tissues to be told that I was not getting into my vehicle as it was staying where it was until the police arrived. I was happy enough with that. I then became aware that both the inside and outside locking system of the driver’s door was broken and the door hinges appeared bent as the door would not close very well. I could not lock the door.
While we waited I was told that Diana Halstead and Dr Pond had also been assaulted as DoC Security Staff entered their vehicles and attempted to take their keys from them. The trucks reversed out from behind the building and set off up to the Kaimarama Road. The Police arrived after about an hour and went inside the building to, I presume, interview DOC Staff. It was only at that time that I realised that the building contained DOC Offices.
The Constable finally emerged and began to question us and take photos including the broken door on my vehicle and my shirt and jacket that had just about been torn from my back. He was pleasant and did a very thorough job I thought. It was agreed that we would go to Coromandel Police Station and make a detailed statement to Morrisey as soon as possible.”
A Coromandel conservation group is calling for a halt to regional funding of toxin use on private land for wild animal control.
The Upper Coromandel Landcare Assocation (UCLA) is asking Waikato Regional Council to suspend any further cash grants to “community” groups for placement of toxin 1080 and anticoagulant rat poisons on private properties on the peninsula.
UCLA cited a $41,000 grant to the Moehau Environment Group, a local contractor to WRC, for placement this summer of the poisons in bait stations on hundreds of hectares in Port Charles in an operation opposed by many landowners in the small community. In addition to concerns over secondary poisoning of protected native species and inhumane controls generally, local residents have objected to extreme danger from toxic animal carcasses on neighbouring properties, as well as poisons entering the food chain.
A recent memorandum from the Department of Conservation confirmed that 1080 resides in the environment and food chain after placement. The toxin has been implicated in the near-fatal poisoning of three Waikato residents after they ate wild pork.
According to UCLA spokesperson Reihana Robinson, there are safe, affordable, and acceptable alternatives to use of residual toxins, including trapping and hunting. “The $41,000 MEG grant, much of which covered 1080 poisoning on the property of the group’s own coordinator and her neighbour, is a dangerous, irresponsible, and wasteful use of regional rates dollars.”
“Locals cannot walk dogs safely along the main road, children cannot safely explore up the Tangiaro Valley, families can not harvest nutritional wild food, and unsuspecting landowners may wind up with hazardous toxins on their own properties,” Robinson said. “And as for our tourism-based economy, visitors are being greeted with kilometres of skull-and-crossbone warning signs instead of the pristine bush they expected.”
“We are not talking conservation estate or protection of crown land. This is public funding of dangerous poisons on private properties within metres of property lines and roads, with toxins potentially migrating onto other people’s land.”
UCLA notes that hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars are being directed by the regional council this term to so-called “community groups” for possum, rat, and mustelid control with little or no accountability and without wider community support.
“It’s easy for council staff to farm out control work with a few big cheques to a few eco-contractors,” Robinson said. “But unfortunately, it is harmful not only to the environment, but to ratepayers and residents, and to regional council’s own relations with the wider community.”
From stuff.co.nz
2009
The family of a Mataura possum hunter who died from 1080 poisoning 43 years ago want his death publicly acknowledged by the Department of Conservation and Animal Health Board.
Both agencies say no-one has died of accidental 1080 poisoning in New Zealand.
But Ian Buchanan’s widow, 69-year-old Elva Wicks, of Invercargill, said that was not true.
Wicks was 25 years old and the mother of three young children when her first husband, Ian Buchanan, died a “ghastly death” in Dunedin Hospital in 1966.
Coroner J Murray found Buchanan died from “central nervous system depression accompanied by respiratory and cardiac failure due to 1080 poisoning”.
The poison was found by investigators in a tin of jam kept in a back porch cupboard, but it was never discovered how the poison came to be in the jam, or how Buchanan consumed the 1080.
“If DOC and the AHB say they haven’t heard anything about Ian’s death it’s because they don’t want to hear,” Wicks said.
“It is documented on his death certificate – how can they deny it?”
AHB spokeswoman Anne McLean said the manner of Buchanan’s death was unclear.
DOC spokesman Rory Newsam said the department was unaware of Buchanan’s death until alerted by the media this week.
SOURCE
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3097688/Hunters-family-in-1080-battle
NZ now has a Poison Industrial Complex (PIC) which deliberately targets the media with good news propaganda justifying it’s continued existence.
If you don’t believe this read the latest book by Reihana Robinson exposing New Zealand’s PIC, available on Amazon.
“Environmental activist and researcher Reihana Robinson explodes the carefully cultivated myth of New Zealand as the “Clean and Green” paradise of the South Pacific. While her country’s government and tourism industry promote images of exotic native bush, rare avian species, clean running streams, and untainted farms, Robinson lays bare New Zealand’s “Dirty Little Environmental Secret” – the wholesale poisoning of the landscape with one of the world’s deadliest poisons to combat pest species, all in the name of “conservation”. New Zealand stands alone in the world for its widespread and growing use of the supertoxin “1080, spread by helicopter over hundreds of thousands of hectares of conservation land, rolling hills, and even into waterways and drinking water catchments. The toxin, made in batches at a small factory in backwoods Alabama USA and shipped to far-off Kiwiland, deals a grisly death to all oxygen-breathing species – among them countless birds, deer, mice, frogs, eels, and invertebrates of all description. While failing to achieve proven conservation gains, New Zealand’s poison-industrial complex taints more and more of the country’s pristine natural wealth with each passing year. Robinson recounts the surprising history of her country’s unusual and failing attempt to poison its way to a clean environment, and with classic investigative reporting and research, exposes the conflicts and professional intrigue that keep the poison flowing. Robinson chronicles the fightback by environmentalists, animal welfare advocates, and growing numbers in the scientific community against the increasing use of the poison in what has become an unhealthy growth industry protected by the New Zealand government. Her expose is a must-read for every student of environmental science – and an important introduction to “the real New Zealand” for tourists and international travelers expecting just the opposite.”
See the Resources page at the 1080 tab at the main menu for further links to info on 1080. Watch Poisoned Paradise, the award winning film that NZ tv channels refuse to play.
If you check this map* of DoC’s recent pest treatment of the Coromandel that included 1080 drops, the Otahu block which was part of that, is right below Whangamatā. Whangamatā has this past week been stricken with 1000s of dying bees … washed ashore at Whangamatā’s popular beach, currently also inundated with holiday makers.
*(Note: you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page at the link & click on ‘I agree’ to access the map).
NZ Herald reports 75 bee stings over the week from the dying insects. The problem began according to Radio NZ on Monday of last week (Christmas Day). Mainstream media has chosen to report it four days later on December 29th, the Friday before New Year when it will likely fly under the radar as folk head off for the long weekend. A time worn tactic with mainstream. NZ Herald reported it on the 30th (Saturday) but only as one paragraph within an article about the large beach crowd, not considered important enough to have a headline of its own. Die offs are becoming almost ho hum these days it seems. Pipi, toheroa, eels, blue bottles more recently and if you google bees this isn’t the first. I saw one item from 2014. There were more. By and large the phenomenon it appears is being downplayed.
It is unclear from DoC’s website maps and info whether 1080 was actually dropped on that block, but it is clear that it was treated with something. Whangamatā is situated on an estuary, also the subject of controversy with conservation concerns regarding a marina built there. As the map indicates waterways (particularly note the Otahu River) flow out of the poisoned zone to the sea. We are not told exactly where the bees were found, or on which beach. There are actually two there and both are safe for swimming.
Amendment 1 Jan 2018: All three pest treatments were aerial 1080 drops.
What I found interesting researching this, was the lack of ease of locating on Doc’s site the relevant information about the poisoned areas. I note that the map indicates 1080 was applied to the Papakai block in the Coromandel, still the other two areas (marked in red) do not indicate the poison used at all. It was only when I went to the Battle for our Birds page that I could find dates (Oct/Nov 2017) yet there was still no clear indication of what was dropped. The Hunting page gave a little more information as in where to go to find out the drop areas but one would have thought the Walking and Tramping page would contain this important information given tourists like to walk the scenic routes. There is nothing there, the site in my opinion is not tourist friendly at all.
So there has been a die off of thousands of bees. This is so tragic, given also we have only just had recent concerns raised by bee keepers about the effects of 1080 on the bee population, particularly in the Coromandel, with bees returning it to the hives.
RELATED: A warning from the Greens in 2012, Don’t wait until the bees are all dead
Will we find out if it was 1080 (or any other poison)? I very much doubt it given the disinclination the authorities charged with protecting our wildlife have to reporting anything bad about this ‘wonderful’ insecticide that kills all oxygen breathing animals and organisms … banned by most countries and manufactured by your government here in Kiwiland. Neither is it likely we’ll be told if it is any of the other poisons our authorities spread liberally around our environment. Our Kiwi government has a love affair with poisons and seems to be comfortably in bed with the poison industry possibly explaining the ongoing opposition we are seeing to anybody who questions the wisdom of it. Sue Kedgely summed it up quite nicely in 2012:
I am wondering how long it will be before we stop using pesticides that are poisonous to bees. I am not optimistic that it will be quickly, given our record. We were, after all, one of the last countries in the world to ban 245T. And the response of successive governments to calls to stop using lethal pesticides has been to dither and procrastinate in the face of mounting evidence, and accept industry blandishments that they are safe…. Sue Kedgely, Green Party
Let’s hope this is investigated by Whangamatā’s regional authorities. We will only be guessing unless the insects are tested and more information is given. Why do thousands of bees suddenly die off like that? We’ve been hearing for years that once the bees go (die) we humans have only a few years left. Ah but you can rest safe because the clever people running the show are busy cobbling together their new GM varieties which of course are going to save the planet.
Here are the articles from mainstream about the bee die off:
One of the country’s busiest beaches has been inundated with dying bees, creating a hazard for holidaymakers.
Surf Lifesavers at Whangamatā have gone as far as issuing a warning to beachgoers to watch out for the insects.
Deputy Head Guard Max Jones said they had dealt with dozens of first aid requests for bee stings as thousands of the insects began washing up on the beach this week.
He first noticed them washing in with the tide on Monday and said it got worse as the week progressed.
He said that by Wednesday there were thousands of bees all along the high tide mark and they had to help about 20 children who had been stung.
Mr Jones said he had never seen anything like it, and while they were trying to alert people to the problem it was difficult with so many people on the beach.
He said the bees were mainly at the high-tide line, and while the numbers appeared to have decreased people still needed to be vigilant.
SOURCE: https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347165/whangamata-inundated-with-dying-bees
RELATED
But the biggest cause of injury over the week had been bee stings as thousands of dead bees washed ashore. Gibson estimated the crew had tended to 75 bee stings over the week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11967770
Many oppose Doc’s 1080 drops on the Coromandel
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11874204
Note: most of the links refer to our own articles, however if you consider this lop sided, I should point out that those articles contain external links. This is about saving time. You can proceed to those links yourself.
For further information on the poisons used in our environment including 1080 and glyphosate, see our main menu. Search categories or use the search box for other articles on topic. EnvirowatchRangitikei
Photo of Whangamata: Wikipedia
“… the rise of the predator-free movement has intersected neatly with the bold new frontier of gene drive technology.” NZ Herald
This NZ Herald article, as is common with mainstream media material, likely flew under the radar on 4th December. Judging by the disbelief from the public at our recent posts on this topic, it clearly didn’t get noticed. The article is basically an expanded version of the last one on topic here, and straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. It is coaxing you into the up sides of GE. GE Free NZ however has now issued a warning about gene drive tech, that post is coming tomorrow. Read our previous posts on topic over the past week (in archives for December 2017, left column of News page, or search GMO in categories also to the left). Particularly also, search the GE Free NZ site for further info on the GE topic. GE is being sold to the NZ public as good for our health and environment among other things while the down sides are quickly dismissed, swept under the carpet or downplayed by media. As GE Free NZ points out, these GM animals end up euthanised with all kinds of health problems. We need to proceed (if at all) with extreme caution. Why ever does man think he can improve on nature?
EnvirowatchRangitikei
From the NZ Herald
“Overseas researchers interested in pest control or eradication are all looking at New Zealand,” says Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague.
‘When Kiwi rat killing expert Doctor James Russell was told his research was being sized up for United States military funding, he wasn’t surprised.
“The US military – they have very long fingers. Even through the universities in New Zealand, they have a representative that comes around and just asks, ‘hey, what are you guys up to’.
“And obviously we’re in the business of eradicating entire populations of animals from an island and so they have cocked their ear towards me once or twice.
“You don’t have to be a genius to see that there’s potential military application in that.”
In this instance, Russell’s work was being measured for suitability against a US$100 million research pot made available by the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa)
Also being evaluated were remote islands around New Zealand, sized up for live trials of genetically modified rodents.
The interest in Russell and New Zealand emerged during an investigation into the activities of a multi-national science advocacy and gene drive research body called Gbird.
It has a US$6.5m slice of that Darpa money and has been considering how to spend that in New Zealand.
READ MORE
What is gene drive technology and what does it mean for New Zealand?
The detail was revealed in a database of emails and documents charting Gbird’s growing focus on New Zealand – and the involvement of a taxpayer-owned Crown Research Institute which told the consortium it would make gene drive research a focus of “NZ Inc”.
It shows how the rise of the predator-free movement has intersected neatly with the bold new frontier of gene drive technology.
Gene drive research is the latest, greatest frontier in science as scientists grapple with the implications of genetic manipulation to remove inherited characteristics from subsequent generations. For example, wiping out one gender from a population of rats means no more rats.’
The database of more than 2000 documents released by North Carolina State University (NCSU) reveal Gbird’s interest in New Zealand as a possible test site and its efforts to get alongside those leading our fight against predators.
The documents show careful efforts by Gbird – Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents – to shape its image and manage possible fallout associated with the US$6.5m pool of Darpa cash.
Among the documents is the report of the meeting with Russell’s meeting in mid-2017 with Gbird’s co-ordinator Royden Saah.
After the meeting, Saah reported to Gbird members: “Co-ordinating with James Russell. Appears no NZ islands meet the strict criteria used within Darpa grant.
“We are now considering small NZ islands that don’t have rodents present that could be used as trial sites, with mice sourced from remote NZ islands larger than our 300ha cut-off that may be future targets themselves.”
First it’s important to understand where New Zealand sits in the world of pest eradication.
Our national goal of wiping out possums, rats and stoats roughly sits with the research focus of leading thinkers on gene drive technology.
That’s because it’s not just about being able to create new technology but what you do with it. And in a world of potential – agricultural or medical benefits – conservation has become a core area of interest to gene drive researchers.
Gene drive technology appeared to offer definite answers to those seeking to eradicate predators. It also offered a permissive, public-friendly area in which to explore new technology.
A critical aspect of new technology is the willingness of society to allow new frontiers to be explored.
By Carol Sawyer
PAUL THOMAS, FORMER DoC FIELD CENTRE MANAGER, REEFTON, IS APPALLED BY PRESENT-DAY DoC STAFF BEHAVIOUR
These two photos are of DoC-employed security ‘guards’ (thugs?) at the aerial 1080 operation near Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula, October 2017.
On the first photo, Paul Thomas comments :
“As a former manager of DoC I’m just appalled at the behaviour of staff. I find this behaviour abhorrent! It has NO fit in conservation!! Nor has 1080!! Conservation is about connecting people to manage what is precious to all of us! There is NO connection here, only failure!!”:
Of the second photo (header image) he says “The disconcerting and ugly face of DoC – a disgrace !!”
I have posted these comments up again with his permission. Intrigued, I asked Paul for his background. He says :
“I was Field Centre Manager in Reefton 1990 to 1998. Managing predominantly Victoria Conservation Park (NZ Largest) and part Lewis Pass National reserve! Before that I was a conservation officer based on Kawau Island – Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. Before that a conservation officer at Waipoua Forest Sanctuary! My career started as a reserved ranger at Trounson Kauri Park 1987, just before DoC came along! Post 1998 I did some project management work for DoC in historic resource management ! Which I continue now in community based built heritage projects, I do the projects as a volunteer. I do though have a continued interest in the natural environment. I’m a Lincoln Parks and Recreation Management graduate.”
Thank you, Paul, for speaking out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaTaP63bwx4
Published on Dec 15, 2017
Folk will recall the recent incident at Whitianga with the unloading of 1080 by DoC in the CBD, totally against the rules of storage of poisons. And Graeme Sturgeon who went to the public location and was assaulted whilst still in his car, with two reliable eye witnesses to the attack. If you visit the article you will see the eye witness statements made to the Police. Including Graeme’s. Here we have an update from Carol Sawyer on the unfolding events… (see petition at the link for enquiry into storage of 1080). Strange isn’t it, the vagaries of NZ law and justice? This will be most interesting to watch… read Carol’s update on events. EnvirowatchRangitikei
UNBELIEVABLE !!!! ASSAULT VICTIM GRAEME STURGEON CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING A DEPT OF CONSERVATION SECURITY GUARD !
Well it was the other way round according to witnesses to the event, (retired Victoria University Senior Lecturer Dr. Wendy Pond and local artist Diana Halstead) and also Graeme himself.
Graeme was assaulted while still in his vehicle and had a bloodied nose and torn clothing to show for it. All these people are in their seventies and do NOT deserve this kind of treatment just because they oppose the aerial deluging of a World Health Organisation, Class 1A, EcoToxin onto their land and particularly onto their “home patch” and precious waterways! But…. the best form of defense is attack and we have seen this all before from DoC, haven’t we?!
Graeme said to me today that he “ABSOLUTELY REFUTES ALL ALLEGATIONS, and will be defending the charge against himself vigorously”. He has employed a criminal lawyer to defend him. He will be appearing in Thames Court on 30 November and will be pleading NotGuilty.
(I foresee a fundraising campaign, fellow anti-1080 people. DoC has large pockets, supplied by all of us. Graeme does not !)
The NZ Police are laying the charge, though it has taken a month for them to do this. I suspect it has been ‘up to the top and back again’ and has little if anything to do with the local constabulary.
Graeme is charged with assaulting a DoC security guard in the Liquor King carpark, Whitianga, where 20 tonnes of 1080 poison (stored there in secret for the previous 6 weeks) was being loaded in the dark, again in secret, in a public carpark, on the evening of October 17th, 2017. This was to enable a 1080 poison drop in the area the next day. The poison was being stored in Whitianga’s CBD, adjacent to residential homes and supermarkets, without appropriate signage, with unprotected loading staff (not even face masks or gloves!), all unknown to the building’s other tenants and, incidentally, unknown to the fire department too, locals tell me. It was, frankly, one of the most blatantly “up yours” efforts by the Dept of Conservation to date!
Many of you will be familiar with the events of that night, as I and others reported them in great detail at the time, and it happened only one month ago. However I have attached this latest information to one of my original posts to refresh memory, and I have added Graeme’s comment from that night too.
Graeme will appear in Thames Court on November 30, 2017. I do so hope many are there to support him. Please add this important date to your calendar, Coromandel people – and anyone else who is prepared to make the trip ! Bring your banners!!!
For further info on 1080 see our page at the main menu.
It is very clear we need better accounting of numbers with this poisoning programme.
As this letter by Ron Eddy in yesterday’s Otago Daily Times points out, in 2014 at the start of it’s ‘Battle for the Birds’ programme, the Dept of Conservation claimed there were only 1000 to 2000 Kea left in the wild.
To summarize the info in this letter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fzb2JWgC88
Published on Sep 2, 2016
CONCERNED CITIZEN: Charter boat operator Barry Bird is surprised 1080 is being held at Port Nelson…Port dust was always blowing on to the site behind the Anchor Restaurant & Bar where he had been working on his boat, he said. Pedestrians often walked past No 45 but there were no signs telling them it was a 1080 bait facility.
The Department of Conservation is refusing to confirm or deny that 1080-laced baits are being handled at a Port Nelson warehouse across the street from a bar-restaurant and close to several other businesses.
A forklift was loading tandem trucks with bales of baits yesterday at AS Fiskevegn House, a blue-and-white warehouse over the road from the Anchor Restaurant & Bar in Vickerman St.
Charter boat operator Barry Bird, working on his boat in the area, was surprised and alarmed to find that the baits were being stored and transported from there for several weeks, with no warning signs on the road side of the building or its fence.
When the Nelson Mail took his concerns to DOC, it said they had three storage facilities in operation at Port Nelson. Only one housed poisoned baits, with non-toxic baits at the other two.
DOC wouldn’t say which of three places held the poisoned baits, or where at the port the other two facilities were.
Bird, who is a hunter but said he wasn’t a member of the Ban 1080 Party and wasn’t totally opposed to the poison’s use in predator control, said his concern was about public safety. He believed 1080 was highly toxic. “It’s a major hazard.”
Port dust was always blowing on to the site behind the Anchor Restaurant & Bar where he had been working on his boat, he said. Pedestrians often walked past No 45 but there were no signs telling them it was a 1080 bait facility.
“They wouldn’t have a clue about what’s going on there. If there was a fire or anything here and the wind was blowing the wrong way, this could be catastrophic.”
The baits were in shrink-wrapped bags but a forklift could pierce one, he said, letting out dust.
“There’s plenty of rural places they could store it where in the event of a catastrophic event, they wouldn’t pollute everybody.”
DOC spokeswoman Trish Grant said there were 73 tonnes of non-toxic bait and 150 tonnes of toxic bait in storage in the port industrial area. Non-toxic cereal baits are dropped first to encourage rats and possums to eat them, with poisoned baits dropped as a follow-up. “The 1080 bait is being stored, handled and transported strictly in accordance with Hazardous Substances and New Organism Act (HSNO) requirements,” Grant said.
The bait containing 1080 was in a storage facility secure and appropriate for storage of hazardous substances, with warning signs in place at the building’s entrances. Exact locations were being kept secret for security reasons.
Grant said the bait had been stored since May, and was primarily for use in Nelson-Marlborough as part of the Battle for the Birds programme to protect native species against the predator boom caused by this year’s beech mast. Grant said the bait was bagged and shrink-wrapped in pallet loads at the Whanganui factory.
“In one instance, some bait was re-baled inside one of the secure Nelson storage facilities.”
1080 is toxic to humans but the Ministry for Primary Industries says that to “get sick” you would need to eat at least 100g of carrot baits; drink more than 5000 litres of water in one sitting from a waterway directly contaminated by a poison drop; or eat at least 37kg of meat, in one sitting, from sheep that died of 1080 poisoning.
The Nelson Mail
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/10543595/Fears-raised-over-1080-storage
By Carol Sawyer
The 1080 poison for this operation had apparently been stored in the DoC office in the CENTRE OF TOWN, 20 Joan Gaskell Road, for approximately six weeks, unbeknown to the Mayor of Thames, Coromandel District Council, maybe also unknown to the Fire Chief, and apparently unknown to the other tenants of the building. DoC were caught out breaking all the rules, in other words !
I should add that the New World Supermarket is across the road, (photo above) Countdown is 24 Joan Gaskell Road, so virtually next door. The 1080 poison was surrounded by food outlets in other words.
As well as this the 1080 poison was apparently stored in another tenant, Platinum Homes’, storage area. Platinum Homes, I am told, knew nothing off this and are furious.
Below are Google Earth street view photos, showing that this was a completely unacceptable place to store 20 tonnes of 1080 poison !
It must be remembered that sodium monofluoroacetate (Compound 1080) is a World Health Organisation Class 1A Eco-toxin, with no known antidote, and banned in most countries.
This situation was uncovered by a young man who lived over the fence in a housing estate because the smell of the cinnamon in the 1080 baits was recognizable in the air!
This situation (DoC loading up the 1080 poison) was uncovered by Benny Rebz around 5.00 pm on the 17th October. He alerted John Allen who came down to see for himself and then alerted others.
Photos :
Another reminder from the GrafBoys regarding the dropping of 1080 into our waterways. A clip from the recent election campaign for Ban 1080 party. See links to their site & channel on our 1080 pages. All other links and resources can be found here.
EnvirowatchRangitikei
Published on Sep 19, 2017
DoC SET TO POISON OFF REMAINING KEA
by Dr Jo Pollard (BSc (Hons, PhD))
Posted to Facebook by Carol Sawyer
“The species is now on the brink of extinction” Dr Jo Pollard
“The New Zealand Government’s Department of Conservation (DoC) is embarking on its largest aerial poisoning programme ever this year and endangered kea (Nestor notabilis), NZ’s mountain parrot, are almost certain to die.
DoC has a very long history of poisoning kea. Aerial poisoning with food baits laced with sodium monofluoroacetate (“1080”) was found to be killing kea more than 50 years ago and the species is now on the brink of extinction. Although the government has made no attempt to formally assess numbers, some estimates in 1986 and 1992 were already as low as 1000 birds. There may be very few kea left. Complete absences are being reported in areas of human activity (tramping huts, ski fields, car parks) where they have traditionally gathered.
In DoC studies over the last decade, an average of 12% of marked kea have been reported dead immediately after aerial 1080 poisoning, with a range up to 78%. Now that DoC are embarking on even more intensive, more extensive 1080 poisoning, there seems to be little hope for the species’ survival in the wild.
How is it that a government department charged with conserving species can cause this carnage?
New Zealand’s conservation management has reached a critically low point where science and ecology have been abandoned in favour of feverish poisoning of “pest” species. Tellingly, DoC recently described itself as a “pest control agency”.
According to DoC, it is pests that are endangering kea, therefore the outcome of poisoning will be beneficial. There are serious flaws with this idea.
Firstly, aerial baiting with 1080 poison is very poor at controlling pests, including mice, rats and stoats. Mouse numbers rise almost immediately afterwards; it is thought mice may be able to detect the toxin in food baits and that they flourish because competing species are poisoned off. Rat numbers are usually (not always) low immediately after poisoning, but they breed and re-invade rapidly and within months are typically far more numerous than before, often reaching plague levels. Stoats are sometimes killed, sometimes not (they have to eat poisoned prey to die, because they do not eat the cereal baits), but survivors and invaders can flourish post-poisoning as numbers of their main prey species, rats and mice, escalate. Surviving stoats are also known to turn to eating native birds after poisoning, when rat numbers have suddenly plummeted.
DoC’s answer to this problem is to now increase the frequency and intensity of poisoning. It is planning to spread double the number of baits, then if there are surviving rats, repeat the double-sowing. However that strategy does not help with the problem of non-acceptance of poisoned baits by mice. Whether rat and stoat numbers will be better controlled is unknown. In previous DoC operations, and in other pest populations (flies, laboratory rats and rabbits) repeated 1080 poisoning has become increasingly less effective because pests have developed behavioural and/or genetic resistance. One thing is for sure- kea and other rare native species will be severely at risk.
Secondly, there is no scientific evidence that mammalian pests are the main cause of the kea’s demise as is being claimed by DoC. Its own studies and ornithological studies had previously concluded (in the 1960s, 1990s and last decade) that although living in the company of stoats, kea were “relatively immune” to predation.
In the last few years DoC has made an intensive effort to prove that stoats are a major predator of kea. The evidence that its much-vaunted, very expensive 1080 poisoning programmes are killing kea has been very inconvenient and it has done its best to create the illusion that 1080 actually helps kea.
But DoC’s recent documents show only spurious, indefensible figures based on “seed rain” and contortions of historic data. Hundreds of hours of camera surveillance inside and outside kea nests have produced very little evidence of predation: at the Kea Konvention in April this year we were repeatedly shown a photograph of a stoat that was “about to get” a nesting kea, and a video that failed to run. Even if DoC’s surveillance had shown lots of predation, nest monitoring in itself is known to attract predators and cause adults to abandon chicks so such “evidence” would be hopelessly biased.
So kea are set to disappear, and DoC is set to blame pests, rather than 1080 poisoning, for their demise. The public will be none the wiser unless they are interested and motivated enough to question DoC’s propaganda.
The plight of kea should cause alarm for anyone concerned about the fate of New Zealand’s ecological heritage. Not only birds, but all air-breathing organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants and invertebrates are affected by 1080 (it interferes with the Krebs cycle used in respiration).
The toxin has a marked ability to spread: in cereal dust and fragments created during aerial spreading, in poisoned animals, baits carried by animals, urine, faeces, carcasses and water. On DoC’s own admission, reliable data on poisoning death rates exist only for six endemic birds. Of those, two (fern birds Megalurus punctatus and kea) have been found to be poisoned in large numbers. What is happening to the rest of New Zealand’s endemic species?
For the scientific basis of this article and more information on kea please see http://1080science.co.nz/scientific-reviews-of-1080/
Dr Jo Pollard (BSc (Hons), PhD) is an independent scientist, with particular interests in animal welfare, NZ’s ecology, and scientific integrity.
By Carol Sawyer
An observer at the start of the Routeburn track said “he saw a couple getting packs out of their vehicle. He asked them if they realized 1080 poison was going to be dropped from the skies the very next day. They were shocked. They had just come from the DoC Office ( and presumably paid their hut fees), and no staff member had told them about the scheduled poisoning.”
Yesterday, September 27, 2017, HeliOtago dropped 1080 poison on the Routeburn and Dart Valleys, over the Routeburn Track. They operated out of Dan’s Paddock at Paradise. ( For ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans, this is where Gandalf the Grey rode into Isengard ).
Two of HeliOtago’s now infamous Rescue Helicopters were involved in dropping the poison – ZK-HJK ( white BK-117 ) and ZK-IME ( red BK-117 ).
Shane Wilson tells me he was at the carpark at the start of the Routeburn Track, at The Divide on the Milford Road, on September 26, the day before the 1080 drop. There were 14 or 15 empty vehicles at the carpark. Some would have belonged to daytrippers, and some to people doing the four day tramp.
He saw a couple getting packs out of their vehicle. He asked them if they were walking the Routeburn Track. They were. They were Brits. He asked them if they realized 1080 poison was going to be dropped from the skies the very next day. They were shocked. They had just come from the DoC Office ( and presumably paid their hut fees ), and no staff member had told them about the scheduled poisoning.
The information sent by the Dept of Conservation to Wild Animal Recovery Operations (WARO ) members on 25 September, 2017 states :
“All tracks in the Dart and Routeburn will be closed during the drop. Nearby tracks will also be shut including the Rock Burn and Beans Burn; these closures will be up to 24 hours. Overnight trampers already within the area will be held at huts by DOC staff until operations are complete. People planning to visit these areas are advised to check with a DOC visitor centre prior to their trip”
Well these people did visit a DoC Visitor Centre and were not informed. Also, what right have DoC staff to “HOLD” people at huts ?!!!
PS: Shane had a copy of the DoC letter to WARO operators on his phone, and read it to those British tourists, informing them that they would be ‘held’ at their hut the next day. He says they were stunned.
Please read our 1080 pages for further info on the NZ Government’s practice of regularly slathering NZ with 1080, a poison banned in most other countries. Find links there for other resources on 1080 compiled by Carol Sawyer (including coverage by the Graf Brothers, creators of the must watch doco ‘Poisoning Paradise).
EnvirowatchRangitikei
Shocking information here. This is an ad for the Ban 1080 party for the election just gone. A short clip that provides visual evidence of DoC’s documentation of Kiwi deaths. Remember our post on the 89 deaths that showed no testing for 1080 as being cause of death … the obvious sure fire way to prove it WASN’T 1080 & they didn’t use it? Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Why would they not do that? DoC it would appear, prefers to squirm out of the obvious ways of proving to us that 1080 is doing a good job. Then there was the NZ Lab’s loss of a human heart that a MD had asked to have tested for possible 1080 poison. Again, makes you wonder doesn’t it? What are they hiding? In my humble opinion I think it might be the evidence 1080 isn’t working.
For further info and links to the Graf Boys’ must watch doco ‘Poisoning Paradise’, their websites, YT Channel and other relative info see our 1080 pages at the main menu
EnvirowatchRangitikei
Published on Sep 19, 2017
Metiria Turei challenged the National Government’s woeful funding of the Department of Conservation and claimed that since 2008 there had been a cut in real terms of $422 million dollars. This concern was expressed in the context of Environment Commissioner Jan Wright’s recent report that stated that 80% of New Zealand’s native bird species were in bad shape and 35% were in serious trouble (close to extinction). Some populations are so small that grandparents are forced to mate with grandchildren and inbreeding within many populations is a major concern.
True to form, Maggie Barry resorted to a personal attack:
“I guess because the member has never been anywhere near Government she doesn’t understand very much about the budget process. The increase in spending in DoC is at $107 million dollars this year, it has been a 20% increase since 2008. The member’s wilful misrepresentation of the figures is pretty pathetic, even by that member’s standards.”
While it must be acknowledged that the Government is embarking on a limited pest eradication programme, this should be regarded in the context of cuts and severe underfunding over previous years. It is the Minister of Conservation who is misrepresenting the facts as Kevin Hague found out in 2016 through Parliamentary Library research.
The following can easily be found through simple Google searches:
READ MORE
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2017/06/maggie-barrys-fake-facts.html
More miracles here from DOC. The poison 1080 was created as an insecticide, however DOC claims it isn’t killing insects. Now that is interesting. Listen to what the science said and how DOC got around that. And see how very uninterested they are in the long term monitoring of the death of invertebrates, an integral part of our ecosystem.
The late Mike Meads (entomologist) discusses his frustrations with the Department of Conservation’s intentions, and scientific integrity …
Someone here has summarized the situation on DOC’s science quite excellently I thought in a recent comment on our blog:
“Regardless of what killed the kiwi the whole argument can be boiled down with math…
$3.5b spent on 1080
•DOC can’t point to one species in recovery
•Dead kiwi are from 1080 (then 1080 isn’t working)
•Dead kiwi are from predation (then 1080 isn’t working).
•We are dropping enough every year to kill 22m people yet apparently rodents and possums are still present in huge numbers (then 1080 isn’t working).
I’m sorry but I can’t see any result other than 1080 isn’t working.
Let’s try another 3.5b worth of poison on our lands just to be sure since we are using the fire and hope method rather than scientific evidence based research.
I have more native bird song in my five trees in residential Auckland than there were in the video clip from Clive Graf with a councillor in a bush block controlled with 1080.”
Check out the 1080 pages for further info and links to the GrafBoys’ channel.
EnvirowatchRangitikei
On the 22nd of August, 2014, 32,000 kilos of 1080 poison bait was cast across Mt Pirongia, near Hamilton. It was enough poison to kill 240,000 people, almost twice the population of Hamilton…
A previous 2007 drop across the mountain was “hailed a success” by Waikato Regional Council, despite farmers raising concern about contamination, including to drinking water.
The New Zealand manufacturer’s (owned by NZ Govt) 1080 poison label includes the following warnings –
“Ecotoxic”,
“Toxic to terrestrial vertebrates.”
“Take measures to reduce of non-target animals being exposed to the toxin either through eating the baits or by scavenging the carcasses of poisoned animals.”
“Harmful to aquatic organisms.”
“Take all practicable steps to manage any harmful effects of a spillage including preventing baits from accidentally entering streams or waterways.”
“This product is toxic to wildlife. Birds and mammals feeding on carcasses of contaminated animals may be fatally poisoned.”
“Where practicable, the exposed bodies of all poisoned animals should be collected and destroyed by complete burning or deep burial in a landfill approved for hazardous substances. Dehydrated carcasses may remain dangerous to dogs or cats for an indefinite period. A single mouse poisoned by 1080 may contain enough poison to kill an adult dog.”
“Take measures to minimise the chance of baits accidentally entering any body of water.”
And … “Apply the product only as specified by label directions.” …
Flight charts released by the Department of Conservation reveal that 1080 poison was dropped directly into most streams and catchments, including to eight of the nine known water abstraction points. Poisoned carcasses have been left to rot in the streams, and animal welfare concerns have been raised. The Department of Conservation Mt Pirongia aerial drop, breached or ignored all of these warnings …
Check out our 1080 pages for links to more info
EnvirowatchRangitikei
More disturbing discoveries on the supposed effectiveness of the pest eradication programs our once clean green paradise has to offer … from the GrafBoys.
“Mt Bruce’s Pukaha claims great success in the recovery of re-introduced bird species like kiwi – but the dark truth is, that kiwi are dying in large numbers, and the decline is directly pointing to pesticides like the aerially spread 1080 poison, or their failure to kill targeted species.”
Pukaha – Mt Bruce is a 942 hectare, un-fenced wildlife project situated in the Wairarapa Region of the North Island of New Zealand.
It claims great success in the recovery of re-introduced bird species like kiwi – but the dark truth is, that kiwi are dying in large numbers, and the decline is directly pointing to pesticides like the aerially spread 1080 poison, or their failure to kill targeted species.
This clip investigates the claims and catastrophes that are Mt Bruce …
See the TheGrafBoys YT channel and website for more videos. Educate yourself on 1080 poisoning. See also http://1080science.co.nz/
Go here for other links to information.
Use the share buttons to help spread the word on all the untruths we have been told. Thank you!
By Carol Sawyer 23 February 2017
We did a great job of poisoning the tourists yesterday. The NZ Department of Conservation and HeliOtago are to be commended! ( Don’t get upset – I am being ironic)
At Makarora, Mt Aspiring National Park, an area of unsurpassed beauty on the eastern side of the Southern Alps, yesterday, 23 February, 2017, HeliOtago dropped 76 tonnes of one of the world’s deadliest poisons, Compound 1080, in a DoC “Battle for Our Birds” operation. 1080 has no antidote.
The Blue Pools Walk is a short walk accessed from the main highway, State Highway 6, and is extraordinarily popular with tourists who want a break and a cool bush-walk after driving over the Haast Pass from South Westland. They also often want a swim on a hot day, and I am told tour-bus drivers encourage them to swim and to jump off the bridge at the Blue Pools. Link: https://www.lakewanaka.co.nz/explore/blue-pools-track
The loadout zone at Cameron Flat is seven minutes up the road from the little village of Makarora.
“Yesterday morning the river directly above the Blue Pools was poisoned, along with the rest of the area – Makarora, Wilkin, Young, Blue Valleys, and all the streams that flow into the Makarora River and also end up in Lake Wanaka.”
By 10.00 am two security officers had cleared the track to the Blue Pools. One had no gloves on, so she just kicked the baits to the side of the track. The other had gloves so he picked them up and tossed them into the undergrowth. It wasn’t much of an effort. One tourist told me he had seen two baits on the track and another showed me film of baits at the side of the track.
“1080 is a broad-spectrum poison: it kills all oxygen-breathing animals and organisms. This alone is reason enough to cease dispersing it into the environment. It indiscriminately kills and contaminates everything from the insects that underpin the native fauna food chain to precious native birds, dogs and farm animals.”
Dr Meriel Watts
A Makarora local, who was on the track at the time they were dropping the 1080 poison yesterday morning, told me the helicopter that went over his head zig-zagged above the Blue Pools, dropping 1080 poison, and the baits went into the water directly above the Blue Pools. The chopper also went along the edge of the Makarora River, along the bushline, dropping 1080 baits so they were flung out into the Makarora River too. None of the streams had designated buffer zones and so they were poisoned directly, BUT the Wilkin, Young and Makarora Rivers were supposed to have buffer zones. Therefore at least one, the designated bait-free zone around the Makarora River, was poisoned, even if unintentionally.
I spent most of yesterday afternoon at the entrance to the Blue Pools track. So did Shane Wilson and his father Ron. There was a constant stream of tourists. As they went in and as they came out we asked them if they knew about 1080 poison, and when the inevitable “No” was the reply, we handed them an explanatory ( and completely factual, and non-emotive ) flier, and then answered their many questions.
They were stunned – seriously ! There were no signs saying the poison had been dropped that morning. They didn’t understand that it was an aerial drop. They didn’t know what all the helicopters were doing.( There were seven helicopters swinging buckets and it sounded at times like I imagine the Vietnam War must have sounded ). They asked me : Is there a fire ? Are they mining ? Are they building something in the forest ?
One man, in appalled disbelief, came up to me and asked if he could show me film he had taken of a helicopter ” so close to people !” He had a young child on his shoulders. The helicopter was a speck on a ridge and THAT shocked him ? Those choppers had been swinging out so much closer to people than he had witnessed !
One young Swedish man was extremely distressed. He had swum in the water and was very upset when he found out about the poison. I said “Look you will be fine. You swam in it. You didn’t drink it”. Then he said he had been drinking it !
So had his girlfriend – from the Czech Republic.
I spoke to Indians, Brazilians, French, Germans, Scandinavians, Czechs, Danes, Dutch, most of whom understood English, or at least one of their number did and translated for the others, English, Americans, Australians, Canadians. ( Not, however, the Chinese. Malaysians, etc – I tried to talk to them but most didn’t speak English and went away as happily oblivious to poison as when they arrived !)
It was quite a business explaining why the government was dropping 1080 poison and why it was totally unnecessary but – when you tell people we drop 90% of the world’s supply and that it is killing EVERYTHING, not just the species they want to eradicate, and that stoats are not interested in 1080 baits ( when speaking to tourists ‘weasel’ seems to be an understood word, but ‘stoats’ not – so if you say ‘an animal like a weasel’, they mostly understand ), and that it is banned in many parts of the world, and that it is poisoning our land and we can no longer eat our wild food and that we have been dropping it for over 60 years and that we have had rats for 700 years and stoats for 150 and, and, and…..
Shane Wilson‘s ‘1080 drum’ with a roadkill possum doe that he came across en route, on top – beautiful fur, freshly killed, and undamaged – a drawcard for curious tourists. I couldn’t stop stroking her. She was all warm in the sun. She had a lucky escape ! She wouldn’t have known a thing, not like the poor possies dying in Makarora in agony right now ! Photo: Carol Sawyer
Shane Wilson’s Dad, Ron ( they had driven four hours from Otautau to be there, setting off at 1.30 am ), and Ray Thompson, ( who had driven for three hours from from Whataroa ). Some anti-1080 people show total passion and dedication. Photo: Carol Sawyer
What surprised me was the intense interest. I was watchful for glazed-over eyes and polite departures but no… the questions poured in and so many people said ” What can we do to help ?!!” An Englishman, who sounded a bit like Prince Charles, was looking at the loadout zone and he said to me ” I hate this sort of thing ! ”
When I was asked how they could help, I said to people: “Take photos of those helicopters. Explain to your friends on social media. Write letters to major NZ newspapers, stating your shock and upset and disbelief at seeing what is happening in a land you regarded as clean and green and 100% pure. Don’t write to the NZ government – the letter will end up in the bin. A letter to a newspaper, from an international visitor”, I said, “is worth more than 100 letters from New Zealanders”
So many said ” But we thought you were clean, green… “
I told them about the film “Poisoning Paradise”. I told them to look it up on Google. I said it had won four international film festival awards and it has not been allowed to be shown on National TV in NZ.
I told them to go to the websites and Facebook pages on the flier I gave them.
I know some of them will – they were truly SHOCKED !
What is the matter with you, Maggie Barry and the Dept of Conservation? How dare you drop 1080 poison in our rivers and not tell tourists NOT to drink the water – only one hour later !!!!!!! NO signs, NO staff, NO care !
“Animal Control Products” ( recently given the more obscure name “Orillion” ), the NZ state-owned factory, has a 1080 warning label which states ” Avoid pollution of any water supply with pellets” and states that the pellets are harmful to aquatic organisms.
PHOTOS by Carol Sawyer & Peter Hartley
On 10 Feb we reported on the intended spread of 1080 over Kahurangi National Park in the South Island amid mainstream media silence. The Grey Star newspaper was the only newspaper we are aware of, to publish on it. We’ve encountered denials on various forums and alternative news sites this week, however reliable sources on the ground in the area confirmed for us on the 10th February of the pre-feed drop as actually happening. Mainstream, say locals, has been strangely silent on the event, although on the 15th February Stuff finally reported on the pre feed drop. This drop is the one that is poison free and accustoms the animals to eating the bait. The poisoned bait will follow.
We were also informed that locals, to their very great credit, declined accommodation for DOC workers doing the pre-feed drop, forgoing a sizeable sum of money. These people are putting their money where their mouth is. Amidst local rumors whether or not the drop was happening, on the night of the 14th two big hoppers were seen on the back of a truck heading south toward Anatori.
This morning (17th February) several trucks and other vehicles were seen returning from Turimawiwi area just north of Kahurangi Lighthouse. They were obviously part of the drop it was said, as evident by the equipment they had on board. They had picked up a tramper who had been down at the lighthouse and saw no less than five choppers spraying the area. The tramper had had to flee from his trip to the light house because 1080 pellets were being dropped both north and south of this favorite tramping spot. The tramper was on holiday from Wellington, and appalled to have seen no notification of the drop.
Pre-feed drop or not, there should have been some notification for the public.
This is UNACCEPTABLE!!
***********************************
It appears that the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is seeking accommodation for up to 30 people in the Kahurangi NP area for the first weekend of March.
A pertinent reminder here:
1080 is a broad-spectrum poison: it kills all oxygen-breathing animals and organisms. This alone is reason enough to cease dispersing it into the environment. It indiscriminately kills and contaminates everything from the insects that underpin the native fauna food chain to precious native birds, dogs and farm animals.
Dr Meriel Watts, PANANZ
And in the meantime, the Otago Daily Times reported on the 16th February on the Makarora Valley 1080 operation near Wanaka with concerns about the presence of many tourists still in the bush.
There have been recent reports of 1080 pellets dropping randomly on the unsuspecting. Here is one. And another here.
“The Department of Conservation has started its Battle for our Birds aerial pest control operation in the Makarora Valley near Wanaka but there are concerns about the apparent high numbers of trampers still in the area.
Doc Central Otago operations manager Mike Tubbs said the operation would begin today with a pre-feed of non-toxic cereal pellets dropped by helicopters over the Makarora valley and its tributaries, the Fish, Blue, Young, Cameron, Wilkin and Siberia Valleys.
Makarora Tourist Centre Director Rhondda Osmers said she wrote to Doc expressing her concerns about the number of vehicles parked in the trampers’ car park yesterday, at Makarora. READ MORE
See the TheGrafBoys YT channel and website for more videos. Educate yourself on 1080 poisoning. See also http://1080science.co.nz/
See also our 1080 pages for info & links, &/or search ‘categories’ drop down box for further related articles (at left of any page).
Like our FB page or follow our blog and stay informed … use the share buttons to help spread the word on all the untruths we have been told – we are about exposing corruption and lies!
Thank you!
Header Photo Credit (Kahurangi National Park) with thanks: Wikimedia Commons
As is the custom of sold-out NZ media, there’s been little if any mention of this intended drop of deadly 1080 tomorrow anywhere. The lure baits have already been dropped today (13th Feb 17) to get our wildlife eating and trusting, while tomorrow they will be munching on genuine deadly 1080, courtesy of Mt Hutt Helicopters. For more information on NZ’s shameful consumption of 1080 (largest consumer in the world) that is banned in most other countries visit our 1080 pages. Particularly, watch the Poisoning Paradise doco by NZ’s local Graf brothers, links are there on the page. (For other articles and links on 1080 and how effective it appears to have been in destroying our birdlife, our wild deer, unsuspecting pets and even farm animals, go here). It has even been dropped directly into our waterways.
NOTE: see further down for an update, the drop is to start on the 15th.
Remember too to name and shame the contractors who drop this poison. It has to stop.
Here is the information from the one newspaper that has published the info, greystar.co.nz :
By Laura Mills
The largest 1080 poisoning operation in New Zealand conservation history is about to get under way in northern Buller and Tasman.
The Department of Conservation is planning to carry out aerial 1080 pest control over about 270,000 ha of the Kahurangi National Park this spring as part of its Battle for Our Birds predator control programme to protect native species from a plague of rats and stoats.
It was met with protests outside DOC’s Takaka office this week.
The cost of the aerial drop was about $4.3 million, DOC spokeswoman Fiona Oliphant said.
It is the largest area in DOC’s Battle for Our Birds predator control programme, and has been broken up into six operational blocks of between about 20,000 and 60,000ha.
The Kahurangi operation is one of 25 confirmed Battle for Our Birds operations using aerially-applied 1080 poison over about 680,000ha of conservation land to knock down rising predator numbers fuelled by the unusually heavy seeding in South Island beech forests.
Six operations have been completed. The largest operational block completed to date is 30,000ha at Waitutu forest, in Southland.
DOC Motueka conservation services manager Mark Townsend said it was estimated that without pest control, rat tracking levels would reach 100% in November in parts of Kahurangi National Park.
Rat tracking levels increased from 54% in May to 90% in August in the Fyfe River area, from 31% to 51% in the Cobb Valley, from 43% to 78% in the Waingaro River area, and from 34% to 63% in the Oparara Basin, at Karamea.
“We are particularly concerned to safeguard threatened populations of whio, great spotted kiwi, kea, kaka, rock wren, long-tailed bats and powelliphanta snails.”
The drop includes the Wangapeka-Upper Karamea. Aerial drops are planned over 45,000ha in the Fyfe, Owen, Wangapeka, Crow and upper Karamea catchments in south-eastern Kahurangi National Park. An aerial operation was last carried out in the Wangapeka catchment in 2011.
DOC said yesterday this was its largest poison operation and it was checking to see if it was larger than previous Animal Health Board poisonings.
See below for maps of DOC’s intended poison drop.
NOTE: In response to denials from the public that this is happening the pre feed drops started on 14th Feb according to contacts in the area:
Notification of commencement of aerial application of non toxic cereal prefeed pellets at Parapara
On behalf of OSPRI New Zealand and the Department of Conservation, Vector Control Services wish to advise that helicopters will begin the aerial application of non toxic cereal prefeed pellets to the Parapara treatment area as part of DOC’s 2016 “Battle for our Birds” beech mast response.
The operation will commence from first light on 15 February 2017
If you have any queries please contact VCS on 03 768 9674.
Vector Control Services
See the TheGrafBoys YT channel and website for more videos. Educate yourself on 1080 poisoning. See also http://1080science.co.nz/
See also our 1080 pages for info & links, &/or search ‘categories’ drop down box for further related articles (at left of any page).
Help spread the word on all the untruths we have been told – we are about exposing corruption and lies! Use the share buttons! Thank you!
EnvirowatchRangitikei
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