• Full Story

1080 protester survives fifth night on Tongariro

Email
Print

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:00a.m.

Chris Short

Chris Short

A terminally-ill 1080 poison protester threatening to die on Mt Tongariro shows no sign of coming down after his fifth freezing night on the mountain.

Chris Short, 50, says he will not come down until fellow protesters Clyde and Steve Graf's documentary, Poisoning Paradise -- Ecocide in New Zealand, is broadcast on TV.

Mr Short has a large tumour on a kidney and doctors say he may only have a few weeks to live.

Taupo mayor Rick Cooper said this morning Mr Short was still on the mountain.

His brother, Vaughan Short, joined him on the mountain yesterday with supplies.

He planned to stay with Chris while he continued his protest.

TV3 and TVNZ both said they had not been formally approached about screening the anti-1080 documentary, and Sky TV's New Zealand-based Documentary Channel refused to comment.

Police were monitoring Mr Short's protest, but did not have immediate serious concerns about his situation, Bay of Plenty district communications manager Jacky James said yesterday.

Mr Short either had people with him or in regular contact with him.

He was not breaking any laws and was not missing.

If he was alone, it might be a different situation, she said.

Police had been talking with relevant parties including the Department of Conservation and Mr Cooper about the situation.

If Mr Short died in the bush, police would be involved in the recovery of his body, as they were with anyone who died in the bush, Ms James said.

His wife, Leanne, said yesterday she was hoping her husband would come down and spend his final weeks at home.

His prognosis was "a few weeks or we may get to Christmas", she told NZPA.

"I can see his point, but of course I'd like to have him at home with me."

She could not be contacted for comment today.

Mr Short has support among hunters who are talking online of a mass march at the weekend to see him.

Mr Short made headlines and was jailed for two years in 1995 after he hijacked a helicopter at gunpoint and made the pilot drop him on the mountain to highlight his fight against 1080.

NZPA
Become a fan of 3 News on Facebook and on Twitter.

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

28 Aug 2009 04:09p.m.

Winifred wrote:

If my husband only had a few weeks to live, I would want him to spend the time with me and the family. No matter what his convictions are he should be thinking of us first. There are plenty of healthy people who could take the place of Chris Short.

28 Aug 2009 01:45p.m.

Bex wrote:

A true New Zealander who is standing up for what he strongly believes in. Ban 1080! You have our full support Chris. Please Clyde & Steve Graf, get your documentary aired.

28 Aug 2009 01:35p.m.

Joshua G wrote:

If you consider you self an intelligent and rational person then would you not want to know the actual facts before forming an option? If the facts are in conflict with your current option would you stay wilfully ignorant rather than learn what they actually are? If you answer yes to both of those questions then I would suggest typing “The use of 1080 for pest control” into Google for the discussion document on this issue. Each fact or claim is referenced to a list at the back the document for the actual science papers on 1080 from local and international science journals. Happy reading but for a short preview:

The above posts, and most of the time when I hear this issue raised elsewhere, are emotionally charged propaganda which is not based on any form of observable realty rather than verified facts. For example Bill Benfield (, 28 AUG 2009 8:33A.M.) made the claim on this site that 1080 killed insects, however, the LD50 rating for tree weta is 91mg/kgbw, while most mammals it is <1mg/kgbw. This means that on average insects are 91 times more resistant than mammals

The fact is that the area health boards, not DOC, do most of the 1080 poisoning yet it is DOC that gets it in the neck because they poison on land that people use for hunting. This is the issue that needs to be dealt with, DOC’s job is to project the environment, not kill it or protect invasive animals for people to shoot. If hunters come up with an alternative control method that would get the same kill rates of pests in these hunting areas, (at the same cost) we could put this issue to bed. To date no such proposal has been tabled but if there was DOC would take it.

28 Aug 2009 12:14p.m.

Graeme wrote:

Very sad. A brave act that is dis-creditting the 1080 lobby. Leveraging off a dying person's irational actions will not help their 'cause.

28 Aug 2009 11:39a.m.

Helga wrote:

A man with the courage of his convictions. What a rare and wonderful thing.

28 Aug 2009 08:33a.m.

Bill Benfield wrote:

New Zealands management of its forests and lands with aerial 1080 is certainly cruel, and proabaly more destructive of our rare and endangered fauna. What is more, much of the fauna killed are the insects that break down the forest litter to maintain the soils, and in the end, the trees It is comparable only to abhorrent Japanese whaling programme in it's destructive stupidity.
I salute Chris Short's courage and conviction to his right and proper cause.