Is the use of 1080 poison the best way to control possums?

Updated: 9:11AM Thursday November 19, 2009

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A Government pest ecologist says more work is needed to find out how rare birds respond to new methods of applying the poison 1080.

Department of Conservation ecologist Dr Clare Veltman said there had been enough studies in the past 20 years to be very confident that kokako, kiwi and kaka were at low risk from 1080.

However, it would be prudent to study the effects of the latest method - dropping non-toxic baits first to encourage possums and rats to eat baits, she said.

Is the use of 1080 poison the best way to control possums? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:

Jamie Carle (Western Australia)
Thursday November 19, 2009 How many of you 1080 advocates actually spend time in the NZ bush.

Find a bush reserve where there hasn't been any 1080 dumped and listen to the bird life, then go into a similar area some months after a 1080 dump, and make a note of the difference.

The silence is deafening.

Jamie Carle (Western Australia)
Thursday November 19, 2009 NZ is 100% clean green. what a joke.

I say totally ban 1080 (certainly ban aerial applications - that stuff just goes everywhere, Water ways included!) It only needs to be in parts per billion to potentially cause health concerns.

As a last resort, if 1080 is to be used, it should be severly regulated interms of public hearings (and allowing for ACTUAL public input for proposed poison dumps in your local community - not just lip service!), strict ground control procedures, identifying ALL waterways (including ephermal streams) etc etc.

Bottom line is, this poison may be the cheapest option we have - but is it necessarily the safest and is it really as effective as they claim it is? After all, possum numbers are hardly any different now than when compared with figures estimated in the 1970s. So what the heck?

There are plenty of alternatives, many of which have the potential to support a fur & pet food industry, and in doing so, create jobs for local / rural communities, and encourage those communities to take part in conservation.

Perhaps you 1080 advocates need to go bush after a 1080 drop & listen to how quiet the bird life is.

Bazza (Hamilton)
Monday November 16, 2009 Sure NZ is green.1080 green. After seeing the poisoning paradise dvd (see 60 minutes tomrrow) and seeing the green pellets loaded into helicopters, the baits lying in streams and not biodegrading like the DOC propaganda tells us, I understand what the sign I saw at the protest in Hamilton meant.

I challenge you to ask DOC &/or the minister if there is an antidote to this hormonal disrupter poison. It is toxic even in parts per million in our meat and water. Some countries where it is banned, based on research as far back as 1949, will not even deal with us if it is found in exports. Ask them if our domestic meat is tested and to what tolerances.
Don't hold your breath for an answer or an honest conversation for that matter.

1080KT (Birchville)
Monday October 12, 2009 Mighty Kauri, how can you call yourself this yet not see what is happening here as DoC, AHB & regional authorities continue to blanket poison our forests, bush and waterways with tonnes of indiscriminate toxins all in the name of "saving our forests."

Back in the 50s and 60s - note, at the height of the 70 million NZ possum population, these introduced creatures had been residing in our bush for over a century alongside tens of millions of native birds - and would you believe NO canopy collapse?

Now, fifty years later, according to DoC et al, we still have those same 70 million possums, but sadly the birdlife is a fraction of what it used to be. (But of course city folk wouldn't know that - they keep hearing the same old DoC propaganda.)
Just one difference here - aerial poisons.

DoC should focus on actuallly saving our native species rather than killing all that lives.

It's time to get back to common sense ground control - jobs and money for our people instead of the risks associated with aerial poisons, for the good of all our wildlife, whether they be introduced or native makes no difference, nature's balance works without man's interference.

H D (Auckland)
Monday October 5, 2009 How many humans and animals have DOC killed/poisoned just to save a few birds and trees? The taxpayer funded eco nazis of DOC think NZ should be returned to how it was before humans arrived here - no humans, no animals.