OVERTOYOU

I was a professional trapper on Mt Egmont of over 20 years, having starting up my own business 45 years ago dealing in possum. In the 90’s, when DOC did their first drop of 1080 on Mt Egmont my staff and I tramped on the mountain.

We experienced the pellets and the dust crashing through the trees.

The following two days we photographed dead birds everywhere. We found four dead possum amongst dozens of birds’ even photographing them laying in the streams.

Before the second drop DOC approached me and took me for a flight around Mt Egmont. This was to show me the ‘‘possum damage’’ to the bush.

After this flight I took a reporter from the Taranaki Daily News into the Egmont National Park to inspect the dying rimu trees that DOC were saying the possum was killing.

The rimu trees had moss on their trunks and there was no possum sign or marks on trunk from claws at all on the rimu trees. This leads me to believe that the rimu was going through the aging process.

Before the 1080 drop the bird life on Mt Egmont was plentiful. When I trapped, the birds were everywhere and the fantails and tom tits would follow me as I worked. While trapping up there I hardly ever caught a rat in my traps.

Trampers often call into my business and mention that the bird life is nonexistent up the mountain.

Up until last year possum products turned over $142 million in New Zealand. The overseas visitors cannot get enough of the possum product and we cannot produce enough for the market.

We are the only country that allows 1080 to be used. Wouldn’t that say enough for DOC to stop the use of this cruel poison?

There is a better way to eradicate this pest so it is a win win for all concerned. Trapping is the way to go. Money is made and the pest is controlled. Listen DOC, stop the drop! Stu Bracegirdle Inglewood

Leash up your dogs and buy a muzzle as a safeguard, the 1080 pesticide drop is about to get under way again on Mt Taranaki and Egmont National Park in August, for the ‘‘battle of the birds’’, it’s worded.

Hey what about us humans, twice as often, but at half the dose, we are lead to believe.

This cruel and inhuman method of pest control should be outlawed by the SPCA, for any animal or bird to die in this manner is a national disgrace.

With 365 rivers and streams, one for every day of the year, running off the mountain like veins of life, why would you want to spread this stuff all over them.

It makes little sense, as we all draw our drinking water from them.

Be aware of walking your dog on the beach with the dead possum carcasses washing down after heavy rain, I am sure DOC will have plenty of treatment warning signs in place this time. Ted Burrows New Plymouth

I want to congratulate Hawera historian Arthur Fryer on his article ‘‘notable homes of Hawera notables’’ ( TDN, July 23).

We in South Taranaki are lucky to have such a skilful writer and erudite man in our community.

Mr Fryer has raised memories of the totally unforgettable and remarkable Mrs Armorel Ethel Joll (Rel). Rel was something of a mentor to me. We became firm friends although she was more than 50 years older than me.

She never got old, at least mentally. She lived a hard life, although marrying into a rich family she needed all her skills to deal with the wreckage left by her playboy husband. Only with the greatest difficulty over a long period did she avoid family bankruptcy.

She was not the least embittered by this experience but learnt an inner strength to show female leadership in a time when men dominated in every sphere. Among many other things she became our first woman town councillor.

I salute her and her memory. Oh and by the way. She always said about the Joll House on South Rd: ‘‘It was the coldest place I ever lived - I couldn’t get out of there quickly enough’’. Neil Walker Hawera