Poison dropped within fence
Satellite tracking of the aerial poison drop in the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary shows the pellets were released within the fenced area, the sanctuary trust says.
Brook Waimarama Sanctuary Trustee Derek Shaw said a map was created from the combined data of the GPS units in the two helicopters carrying out the September 2 drop.
It showed the helicopters remained within the fence boundary throughout the operation.
‘‘The data is highly accurate to within three metres,’’ he said.
‘‘The community can have confidence we are carrying out the pest removal operation according to the current best practice.’’
‘‘There were some rumours around that some [pellets] had fallen outside [the fenced area] but I think our staff and volunteers went around and checked that on the Sunday and didn’t find anything.’’
Shaw said specific buckets had been used to drop the brodifacoum-laced pellets from the helicopters, depending on proximity to the fence line.
‘‘Trickle buckets were used to drop the pellets directly beneath the helicopters along the 10 metre setback from the boundary fence, while spreader buckets were used to disperse the pellets more widely in the main area of the sanctuary.’’
Shaw said two more poison drops were planned before the end of October.
They would be spaced ‘‘approximately three weeks apart, depending on weather and other factors such as availability of helicopter pilots and transport operators’’.
‘‘It’s going to be largely driven by the weather, we need those dry days.
‘‘It’s a matter of watching the weather and forecast but ... it’s very changeable at the moment.’’
Shaw said the sanctuary wouldn’t know how effective the drops had been until all three had been completed and tracking tunnels were put in place in the sanctuary to monitor the movements of predators.
The operation has been controversial with court challenges, protests and vandalism before the first drop.
Broadifacoum is widely used as a rat poison and can be bought in most supermarkets and hardware stores.
The Brook Sanctuary chose broadifacoum to rid the sanctuary of pests and predators to allow native birds to be reintroduced.