Memo to DoC: let’s conserve kea, not kill them
UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne is demanding that the Department of Conservation be publicly held to account over the damage done by 1080 poison to native birds and other non-target species following the death of seven kea at Fox Glacier.
“This case of indigenous avian genocide is a further illustration of the irresponsible way in which DoC uses 1080 poison,” said Mr Dunne.
“Recently aerial 1080 operations have been responsible for the death of domestic horses in the Central North Island, earmarked for use across public water supply catchment areas, and now have successfully dealt a blow to the precarious kea population.
“The public of New Zealand fund DoC to manage our conservation and recreational resources on our behalf. Grudgingly we have also accepted the use of aerial 1080 as a means by which to fight the prevalence of possums, stoats and rats; however our tolerance is at an end.
“For too long the apologists of 1080 have sneered at those willing to question the sanity of a policy that demands the blanket spraying of poison bait across vast areas of New Zealand.
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