get-pushed from Smitha is to take a photo about a cause I am passionate about.
Last week I attended a protest about our local council secretly investing $2million in a 1080 poison factory.... they also own a company that spreads the stuff and are the regulatory body who oversees its use...huge conflict of interest.
1080 has for the last 50 years been dropped from helicopters over vast swathes of NZ hinterland in an effort to kill possums, rats and stoats which kill native birds and spread bovine tuberculosis. All of these were stupidly introduced to NZ back in the day and have become a huge problem as they have no natural predators and the birds have no defences as they didn't evolve with mammalian predators. However 1080 is one of the most lethal toxins known to man, and kills everything, a case of kill the village to save the village. No studies have been done on how it effects species other than the target ones, such as invertebrates, what do they think the birds eat? It causes a lingering agonising death and sub-lethal doses are not studied either so who knows , it is known to be mutagenic and they insist on dropping it around water catchments for townships and around farms.
Emil the guy speaking here has gone to jail for leaving 1080 pellets on the steps of parliament and writing anti -1080 graffiti in chalk. he gathered them only metres from his back door and can no longer hunt and gather wild foods from the bush for his family. A hot issue in my part of the world.
There are different views on this - the destruction of our forests seems to be the main reason. In the area I used to live next to a forest, when the dropped poison and trapped, they reduced the number of possums and the forest was silent. Then about 2 years later, the birds came back in and the chorus is beautiful!
Very dramatic shot. I agree that such a lethal substance should not be in use. I have mixed feelings about some of the issues involved, e.g. the targeted animals were introduced by humans, and are now being made targets because of human stupidity.
