New Zealand Needs to Abolish the Use of 1080 in Our Native Forests
Ian Miller
Public
Seen by 33
We need to seriously investigate putting money into commercial harvesting instead of spending millions of dollars annually on the widespread, costly and largely ineffectual use of 1080 poisons to eradicate the Australian Brush Tailed Possum (trichosurus vulpecular) in our native forests and other areas administered by the Department of Conservation.
While possum culling in New Zealand is condoned by the World Wildlife Fund, the continued use of 1080 in our Forests and National Parks puts the lie to international marketing claims of a "clean, green New Zealand".
The oft-quoted statement that "some areas are too difficult to trap" no longer holds true; New Zealand has one of the highest per capita population of helicopters and is currently developing some extremely effective harvesting techniques, including the use of GPS-enabled traps and Drone technologies.
Originally introduced from Australia in the 19th Century as a cash crop, the pelt has some unique properties that make its use very desirable in a hi-tech world.
There is no shortage of Brush Tailed Possum in New Zealand. It is estimated there are as many as 95 million possum in the wild and they do extreme damage to both native bush and birdlife in all areas of the country.
These pages clearly spell out the environmental impact:
Rangi Kemara Tue 24 Jun 2014 10:31AM
@merrynbayliss "What are you basing that statement on? Where is the evidence?"
I live in my Ngati Rereahu territory, the Maraeroa forest was our food cupboard until it was poisoned by 1080. My opinions stated here come from my own direct observations out in the bush and those of my relations who live in the forests and also used to source most of their meat from those ngahere.
And a quick google search and this
http://minginui.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/below-is-copy-of-email-that-i-sent-to.html
Same story, different forest.
The key issue though with the nests of native birds issue, is that DOC is using them as a way to bullshit everyone into accepting the need for 1080. Yes possums, stoats and a number of other pests do worry the birds and interfere with the nests every now and then, especially when their numbers are in imbalance due to 1080, but by far the GREATEST killer of native bird populations was massive deforestation of our native forests by NZ Forest Products, not any of these pests.
The numbers have only really seriously rebounded with reforestation not 1080'ing the possums.
Rangi Kemara Wed 25 Jun 2014 5:41AM
"Laurie Collins said in his work and leisure time over 50 years he had seen numerous examples of “morgue-like” forests after 1080."
That is a fairly accurate description of the forests.
Merryn Bayliss Tue 8 Jul 2014 4:08AM
Just learned something new yesterday: Fish and Game is concerned about 1080 because trout apparently eat mice, and this raises the possibility of secondary poisoning of trout, and also possible tertiary poisoning of a human eating a trout that has eaten a poisoned mouse/mice.
Rangi Kemara Tue 8 Jul 2014 7:55AM
The brown rat can swim, and can be attacked by trout and eels as it scampers from one side of the river to the other.
Ian Miller Sat 12 Jul 2014 9:02PM
Can anyone provide a link to a recently released report that is highly critical of the activities of the Department of Conservation?
Nathan Surendran Sun 13 Jul 2014 11:51AM
I'd like us to take a long term view of our ecosystems, accept that introduced species cannot be eradicated, and accept that long term, a natural balance will prevail. This probably implies introducing more natural predators (wolves for deer control anyone?) which I'm sure is highly controversial, but the alternative is to have no alternatives when fossil fuel driven control measures expire, and watch the devastation that then ensues.
Commercial harvesting is another alternative, and could probably work up to a point, but there's some pretty inaccessible parts of Fiordland... But I do like the idea of using this potential industry as a driver to look at traditional animal based transport modes, and see how this shifts the economics of a commercial venture, given the upcoming demise of affordable fossil fuel: http://bit.ly/1kS6L2o
Marc Whinery Sun 13 Jul 2014 8:37PM
@nathansurendran Eradication has worked on some islands. It "could" work on the larger islands, if we had the will. Incorrectly declaring it impossible may lead to the erosion of will that would make it impossible, but it isn't a statement of fact.
Merryn Bayliss · Tue 24 Jun 2014 9:33AM
I think the whole concept of conservation in New Zealand is highly questionable, and that future generations will look back at what we're doing now and wonder what on earth we were thinking.
Of course we all want to save our incredibly special unique wildlife, but at what cost? The cumulative poisoning of our environment and the horrific cruelty involved are my main concerns.
We can't turn back the clock. New Zealand is never going to be like it was prior to human arrival. All ecosystems change and evolve over time. NZ's ecosystems and species were inevitably and unfortunately vulnerable to introduction of mammalian predators. In the case of possums however, my feeling is that they have proliferated because they filled a vacant niche, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's normal for forests to have browsing species.