Richard Prosser MP
Spokesperson for Outdoor Recreation

19 July 2013

New Zealand First Calls For End to Aerial 1080

New Zealand First says Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright is wrong to be calling for an increase in the use of 1080 poison on DOC land.

Outdoor Recreation spokesperson Richard Prosser says New Zealand First will seek to find an alternative, followed by a ban of the use of air-dropped 1080 altogether.

“1080 is an inhumane and indiscriminate poison which is banned in most of the rest of the world.

“New Zealand is one of only a half-dozen countries which allow 1080 use, and we take something like 90% of the total global supply. 1080 kills everything from native birds to deer and pigs and dogs and horses as well as possums, and it kills them slowly and painfully.

“A ban here is inevitable and the Government should be focussing on developing alternative products and strategies for pest control.

“There are better ways of controlling possums and other TB vectors around the fringes where farmland meets the bush, including bait stations and humane traps. These allow for the harvest of possum fur and don’t leave unrecovered carcasses to become a food source for other predators such as rats and stoats.

“Game animals such as deer and pigs might have been introduced species once, but they’re naturalised and endemic now, and are best controlled through sustainable hunting.

“New Zealand First supports our hunting community as one of the guardians of the land, and we applaud their efforts in helping to protect both native bird species and the biosecurity of this country’s farming operations.

“We oppose the continued use of aerial 1080, and will look to promote and encourage alternative methods of pest control,” says Mr Prosser.

ENDS

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