Below is most of a mail from one of our readers to another and copied to us.
Unfortunately, Forest and Bird strongly support 1080 usage and many people are staggered that this slow acting and cruel poison is actively supported by an organisation like Forest and Bird.
It is particularly concerning when in New Zealand animals are declared as sentient beings and the deaths to animals like deer and possums takes several days with 1080 use. Deer are in such agony they try to gouge out their entrails using their antlers and hind legs to ease their suffering
The claims by DOC and Forest and Bird of 25 million of native birds being predated every year is a gross distortion and there is no factual evidence to back up these claims. Even when it is given a little thought it would work out at 2,853 birds being predated every hour of every day of the year.
The 1080 is an insecticide as well as a rodenticide. Many of our little insectivores are being decimated by the 1080 from starvation as their food source disappears and Kea dying from secondary poison from eating poisoned carcasses. The same applies to our native falcon the Karearea a recent bird of the year winner.
Forest and Bird are intransigent that 1080 benefits the birds and won’t listen to any concerns that are expressed by the likes of Dr Jo Pollard, Professor Wayne Linklater and Dr Jamie Steer among others. It wasn’t always the case that Forest and Bird fully supported 1080 use. Back in the 1990’s Forest and Bird totally opposed 1080. We are unable to ascertain why Forest and Bird did this massive u-turn on the issue. As quite a number of our native species are in a race to extinction many of us cannot fathom why this rigid support for 1080 continues. If 1080 works one might ask why is it still being used after 65 years since it began.
It is for the reasons mentioned above that people take action and stop purchasing products that endorses actions by DOC such as those mentioned above and are fully supported by Forest and Bird.
I am a regular host and have enjoyed your wines to date but was horrified to see the endorsement of Forest and Bird, given their support for the use of 1080.
Reblogged this on Rangitikei Environmental Health Watch.
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Back in the 1990’s Sage was in the admin of forest and bird, then her partner became one of the administrators of doc and they purchased some of our public land off doc and forest and bird started supporting doc on their poisonous ways.
Since then forest and bird have enjoyed a generous donation every year from doc.
I leave you to make what you will of that.
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At the time F&B switched from being anti-1080 to pro-1080, 25 years ago, I was VP of the NZ Possum Fur Producers Association and knew Kevin Smith, who was CEO of F&B.
I rang Kevin and asked about the switch and was told that F&B did not like 1080, it was only a short term measure, until something new was developed and 1080 was the lesser of two evils. with the worst evil being trapping.
Kevin told me that trapping was considered very bad, not because trappers couldn’t do the job, but because trappers harvest an economic resource that could be seen, by a future government, as being economically valuable enough to manage and if this came to be, there would be no way possums could be eradicated, which was F&B’s ultimate goal.
F&B know that output contract trappers can do a better job than 1080, however, F&B need to tell lies, about the effectiveness of trapping, so that trappers do not have a major influence on wild animal control work and methods.
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