Film puts DOC on defensive

The Department of Conservation is trying to reinforce what it says are the benefits to native wildlife of the deadly toxin 1080, in the face of an anti-1080 film circulating in the region.

DOC's actions come as it is poised to drop 45,690 kilograms of 1080 poison bait (2kg per hectare) over 22,845ha of the Kahurangi National Park, in an area that includes the Heaphy Track.

Poisoning Paradise Ecocide in New Zealand, a two-hour documentary by Clyde and Steve Graf, contains footage of animals dying an agonising death from 1080 poisoning and shows native birds such as weka and kea eating 1080 baits.

The film has been publicly screened twice in Golden Bay. During the second Takaka showing on Tuesday, DOC staff handed out pro-1080 leaflets to "tell the other side of the story".

The department also inserted a full page pro-1080 advert in today's Golden Bay Weekly.

DOC manager of the Golden Bay area office John Mason said the $285,000 aerial 1080 operation would extend from the top of the Aorere valley to an area north of Kahurangi Point. It aimed to protect great spotted kiwi, blue duck and rare powelliphanta snails.

He strongly disputed the film's claims that the toxin killed native birds.

"The fact is, possums, rats and stoats are creating carnage in our forests 95 per cent of kiwi chicks don't make it to adulthood. Without 1080, we would lose whole populations of vulnerable native birds."

As the only toxin that can be aerially applied, 1080 was "the most effective weapon we have" to control the three major pests and the most cost-effective method in remote, rugged terrain, he said.

He said Golden Bay's rare land snails had made a "remarkable recovery" since the use of the poison. Numbers of Powelliphanta montana had shown an average annual increase of 43.4 per cent since 1999, while the endemic Powelliphanta g. gilliesi on Mount Burnett had increased from 2.8 snails per 100 square metres in 1993 to 20 snails per 100sqm in 2008.

If 1080 was killing native birds, then "why would we continue to use it?" Mr Mason asked.

He cited an Environmental Risk Management Authority review that found the benefits of the toxin's use outweighed the risks.

But local resident Rita Davies, who organised the public showing of Poisoning Paradise, said very few of DOC's claims had been verified by independent scientific studies.

She described DOC's pro-1080 leaflet as "pure propaganda".

"The film showed that the Erma review was a sham. Birds die from the poison. The benefits do not outweigh the risks. 1080 is highly toxic. It's banned in most countries and it is totally inhumane."

Taxpayers' money should be redirected to trapping and setting up a wild game and fur industry, Ms Davies said.

- © Fairfax NZ News