Reality of 1080’s impact
The writer explores the views of the vocal anti1080 lobby, writes David Herkt.
There is no more divisive issue in New Zealand than the aerial application of 1080 poison pellets onto our National Parks to control introduced pests – especially when it is conducted by the Department of Conservation.
There is a natural aversion to spreading poison indiscriminately across swathes of what we regard as a special native landscape. On the other hand, there is awareness of the devastation that introduced possums, stoats, weasels, rats, cats, mice, and deer have caused to an ecosystem of global importance.
In Protecting Paradise, Dave Hansford comprehensively deals with these issues, in what – surprisingly – is the first full-length book devoted to the subject.
New Zealand uses 90 per cent of the world’s production of 1080, largely because 1080 is a mammalian toxin. New Zealand split from the super continent of Gondwanaland 55 million years ago before mammals existed. The only indigenous mammals New Zealand possesses are three species of bat, as well as the seals and sea lions, who have swum here. Our use of 1080 is not a consequence of lack of rigour or wrong-headedness on the part of government agencies; it is just that it is targeted very specifically at introduced pests.
Hansford lucidly explains the history of 1080 and its uses in New Zealand: how once baits were far more toxic than they are now, how they are distributed, and the provable consequences of use. Citing some of the latest DOC experiments, he shows that native bird populations are not harmed by a 1080 drop, in fact their breeding rate immediately increases with the lack of predators.
Protecting Paradise also explores the views of the vocal anti-1080 lobby. While most New Zealanders instinctively shy away from the thought of widespread use of poison, there are several organisations and individuals who publicly protest every use of 1080. The campaign has been kept up to a degree almost unknown for any other issue, whether it is social injustice or environmental degradation.
Hansford states clearly that the science proves there is no evidence to show that 1080 remains in an ecosystem longer than a few days, often at barely detectable and certainly sub-harmful levels. By-kills are minimal. He also deals squarely with the deer-hunting purists, who appear to want to put their own interests ahead of national needs and a healthy native forest.
Protecting Paradise takes no issue with the fact that people dislike 1080, philosophically or ethically, but it does confront the pseudo-science that is used to justify that view. By providing the background history and the arguments (both pro and con), Hansford makes it possible to see the reality of a subject too often obscured by misplaced passion.