Crowdfunding the battle of the Brook
In the 24 hours after setting up a crowdfunding page, Nelson’s Brook Sanctuary Trust saw more than $10,000 donated to help it cover costs to respond to legal action.
A court battle is scheduled to begin on July 27 at the High Court at Wellington, as the Brook Valley Community Group take the Trust to court over its controversial poison drop planned for this winter.
The community group, which is also fundraising to cover legal expenses, has two aims – to stop the planned aerial drop of brodifacoum, and to challenge the lawfulness of amendments made to the Resource Management Act. port shown by the early success of the Givealittle campaign.’’
The Trust received a boost in funding from the Nelson City Council earlier this year, to help it meet an ‘‘operational shortfall’’, owing to earlier delays in pest eradication.
Willcocks said they were still planning for the pest removal operation to go ahead this year, and were confident the High Court’s decision would make that possible.
She did not say what the implications for the Sanctuary would be if the poison drop did not go ahead this year.
The Sanctuary’s Givealittle page has now raised more than $16,000, after been set up on Friday July 7, with a target set at $30,000.
Brook Valley Community Group chairman Christopher St Johanser said their group was aiming to raise $80,000 and he was ‘‘totally certain’’ they’d reach the target.
St Johanser said the poison drop was a ‘‘dirty trick’’ to play on animals, as it was a ‘‘very nasty poison’’.
He said a team of 18 volunteers were working on fundraising and it was ‘‘only a matter of speed with which we can mobilise the growing support we’re experiencing.’’