1080 campaigner calls for trappers, not poison

Come on New Zealand - aren't there are enough poisons in our meat, vegetables, houses and lives already? Have we not learn't from previous experiments in tampering with the eco-system? And regardless of potentially irreversible effects 1080 might have on the environment (in particular, wiping out native species of birds/bats) the cruelty 1080 inflicts is shocking. I like that alternative solutions are being proposed... let's push those fowards so that the people saying 'there IS no viable alternative', despite evidence to the contrary (comparative costings show that trapping is substantially more cost-effective than blanket dumping poison) will no longer have power in such an argument. Good on you Graf boys! Keep 1080 in the news - it makes people ask questions.

I for one would like to see hard evidence that Kaka are being killed by possums after all we do know for a fact they are killed by 1080 along with many other bird species. The rest of the world is rapidly wakeing up to our scorched earth policy in its attempts to get rid the country of so called pests the sooner ground control methods are used and these pests? are used as a resource the sooner we can regain our reputation as a clean green country the better. Stinking rotting carcases in our pristine waters is not a pretty sight.Lewis Hore

I whole-heartedly support Clyde Craf's comment that trapping is the best option for Fiordland - 1080 really is killing this country, 1080 should be banned - its that simple! It is inhumane and a huge risk to our people, our biodiversity and our exports - stop using it before it is too late! The 1089 poison industry will go to any lengths to justify this poison which kills everything that eats enough of it, then it kills everything that eats the carcasses and its residue in game or water may alter our embryos or foetuses (DOC paper states it is a teratogenic). Continued exposure will alter body organs - stop before it is too late, we do not need or want it. It is a total waste of taxpayer funds.

Trapping would certainly be a safer solution for the Waitutu Forest instead of the planned aerial drop. Stoats do not eat 1080 baits but they certainly eat birds. Clyde is quite right in saying that 1080 poison will be harmful to the other wildlife and there is no guarantee that the possums will even eat cereal baits in the spring. The resident kea and kaka populations will have less chance of survival by using this indiscriminate poison than if a ground operation had been allowed to take place.