1080 Poison Operation in Hokitika: AHB and DOC Get into Bed Together

Welcome to yet another winter season of Animal Health Board (AHB) and Department of Conservation (DoC) aerial 1080 poison drops.

The first of many scheduled drops is the Blue Spur operation on the West Coast of the South Island. This is the first drop in which the AHB has agreed to adhere to the Westland District Council's recommendation for exclusion zones from ridgeline to ridgeline around water catchments. In this case, the exclusion zone is to stop the poison going into the catchments of Lake Kaniere, which is the source of drinking water for the township of Hokitika.

DoC claims the operation is being done “by the AHB to control possums to reduce the occurrence of Tb in domestic cattle and the conservation outcomes are not a driver for this operation.” The scale of this operation is 6,305 hectares of which around 53% is land under DoC administration.

In 2008, the AHB carried out an aerial 1080 poison drop in South Westland between Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier in which DoC attached radio tracking devices to Keas to determine the impact of the poison on the birds. Following the poison operation, Official Information Act request to Mike Slater, DoC West Coast Conservator, revealed that operation killed 70% of the monitored Keas.

During that drop Josh Kemp from DoC Nelson undertook the study of Kea. He concluded that more 1080 operations in other areas were needed to study Kea mortality from 1080 poisoning. These studies are still ongoing and one of the next studies proposed is in Okarito, with approximately 30 Keas to be radio tagged during the planned 1080 poison aerial operation of this area. The Blue Spur drop would also have been a good opportunity for DoC to do a radio monitored operation because of the accessibility. However, DoC has decided not to do any pre- or post-monitoring of the impact this operation will have on Kea or any other native bird species or, for that matter, on any other species, such as the pests that are being targeted.

The AHB has chosen to do the Blue Spur operation in mid-winter when food availability in the forest is scarce in the hope that possums will be enticed to eat the poison baits, however, the same logic means Keas and other native species will also eat the poison.

In 2010 Josh Kemp (DoC) and Andrew McAllister (formerly Regional Council/AHB, now of Leviathan Consulting) finished a study on a bird repellent trial at the Karamea end of the Heaphy Track to see if targeted pests would also be deterred from eating baits laced with bird repellant. The obvious need for bird repellent clearly shows that DoC consider too many native birds are dying from their aerial poisoning operations.

DoC has given consent to the AHB to drop 1080 poison pellets on DOC estate at a concentration of up to 5 kg per ha of 0.15 % pure 1080 poison, which is sufficient to kill deer. However, the stated objective of the AHB operation is to control possums. The amount of pure 1080 poison needed to kill a possum is just 0.08%. The amount needed to kill a stoat or rat is 0.04%.

When the AHB was asked who would order deer repellent to be used in baits, they indicated it would be the landowner, which in this case is predominately DoC. As the use or deer repellent was not requested by DoC, it is clear the operation is also targeting deer, which is not the target species.

DoC says that this land that is being aerially treated is not accessible by foot because:

1. It is rough country
2. It is heavily forested
3. The presence of hidden mine shafts

These are the excuses DoC constantly uses to justify the indiscriminate aerial distribution of 1080 poison. However, this drop zone is easily accessible, and would be easily covered with ground control methods, which are more humane and pest specific. The hills in the drop zone are less than 350-metres; the area has about 26 kilometres of roads through it, and is about 50% pine forest (if the area is “inaccessible,” how were pines planted there?).

The Westland District Council's recommended exclusion zone around Lake Kaniere, which backs onto the poison zone, has been designated for ground control in order to protect Hokitika’s public drinking water supply. This area is far more densely forested and rugged than the aerial drop zone, which clearly shows the area designated for aerial poisoning could easily also be ground controlled.

Despite AHB claims to the contrary, ground control can be as cost-effective as aerial control and is often more economically viable and effective. It is certainly more pest-specific, humane and the results are more easily determined. Ground control can also be done and annually, whereas aerial distribution of 1080 poison is only permitted on DoC land every four years, due to residual toxicity effects on the environment.

The 2007 Environment Risk Management Authority report stated that 1080 poison is to be only aerially applied in inaccessible areas, however, the AHB continue to ignore the ERMA report and aerially drop poison from the mountains to the sea.

ENDS

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