This is an excerpt from a recent article from coranz.org.nz which deserves its own highlighting I felt. Bribery & targeting of the one or two owners is a time worn tactic of the authorities. EWR _____________________________________________________________________ “Private lands, which often have numerous owners, are being targeted for 1080 drops by Ospri, DOC and regional councils. […]
Private lands are being targeted for 1080 drops by Ospri, DOC and Regional Councils with questionable means of obtaining consents of only one or two owners among the many — Rangitikei Environmental Health Watch
Id be very annoyed if they dropped on my place. the poison business is absolute madness.
It has to be one of the biggest hoaxes foisted onto the tax paying public. All 1080 achieves is to kill the most of all living creatures that ingest it. Then each of those corpses retains 1080 – i.e. it becomes a poisonous bait in itself to poison anything that pecks at or scavenges it. Twenty percent – more or less – of rats survive (research Roscoe 2007)and being ultra-prolific breeders, explode in numbers. Within 4 years there’s over 3 times the original numbers of rats. Stoats that prey heavily on rats then explode in numbers. All OSPRI/DOC have done is to cause plagues of rats and stoats.
Worse still there’s no justification for 1080 particularly on bovine Tb. OSPRI still uses antiquated skin test with a 25% (+ or -) that means undetected infected animals remain in herds to infect any others with lowered immune systems.Infection rates among possums are virtually nil. In fact statistics show NZ has to be one of the most Tb free countries in the world.
Possums are demonised by DOC with absurd claims the herbivore is a carnivorous predator. Nor does their browsing damage the bush. A nuisance at times in home garden/orchard – yes – but that doesn’t justify dropping tonnes of an ecosystem poison.
Trapping deals with the nuisance.
Possums are a resource – fur worth 30 times crossbred wool and meat ideal for pet food and/or meat exports to Asia.