Joint statement from Department of Conservation and the Animal Health Board in relation to Poison Free NZ rallies - Nov 15.

Banning poisons from New Zealand would push vulnerable native bird species towards extinction and put our multi-billion dollar dairy and meat industries at unacceptable risk.

New Zealand’s native wildlife and forests face a daily battle against attack by rats, stoats and possums. Without protection, nine out of ten North Island kiwi chicks born in the wild will be killed before they reach one year old.

Possums infected with tuberculosis cause the overwhelming majority of new TB infections in cattle and deer herds around the country. 1080 is vital to stopping the spread of diseased possums and protecting New Zealand’s annual $12 billion dairy and meat export trade.

Without weapons like biodegradable 1080 and the rat poison brodifacoum, New Zealand would lose whole populations of native birds and vast tracts of native forest to rats, stoats and possums.

Brodifacoum has helped us completely clear pests off more than 50 islands around NZ, including such well known sanctuaries as Tiritiri Matangi, Kapiti , Campbell Island and Whenua hou (Codfish Island). Native forests and threatened wildlife like kakapo, kiwi, albatross, saddleback and tuatara now flourish on those islands.

There are a lot of wild and inaccurate claims currently being made about toxins. Critics claim 1080 is contaminating water supplies, killing kiwi and getting into our food exports. There is no evidence to back these claims – they are simply not true.

New Zealanders can research the facts for themselves. We should not allow a deliberate campaign of misinformation and fear to put the fate of our wildlife and our agricultural exports at risk.

DOC and the Animal Health Board use toxins sensibly and both use ground control options – traps, bait stations and shooting –widely. Aerial 1080 treatment accounts for about 20 percent of AHB’s pest control operations and DOC uses aerial 1080 on less than two percent of publically managed conservation land.

DOC and the AHB also jointly spend more than $2 million annually researching a range of alternative pest control methods.

But in challenging circumstances – such as rat plagues or difficult country – aerial poison operations are the most cost effective method for controlling predators and disease carrying possums.

ENDS