Both the Robinsons and I are much buoyed up by all that Dal Minogue (previous Letters To editor The Informer, 30 April) has said we have achieved. It is good to be reminded that our efforts have not been entirely wasted.
As a result, I thought I would begin with this:
People who are involved in the wild animal poisoning business equate ‘poisoning’ with the word ‘conservation.’ Because I am against the use of poison to control wild animals those involved with poisoning label me as ‘anti-conservation’.
Spreading poison is their form of “conservation” – in DOC’s case, spreading poison is practically their only method of “conservation”.
This is the barrier, a strong barrier put up between the poisoners and all those who object to the use of poison on their properties. In 1991, DC spread ICI’s rat bait called Talon. This poison was known to remain in the environment and poison multiple times.
In England the poison was banned because they knew it would poison the owls. We knew that before the poison was spread. The Kennedy Bay owls got wiped out. I could not believe they would knowingly go out and destroy so many beautiful birds. For what? Why were NZ owls or hawks or falcons or kingfishers not protected from poisoning as they are overseas?
In 1994 DOC dropped 1080 baits on the Coromandel for the first time. The following morning, many poisoned birds lay dead on our lawn.
I asked DOC what they thought about all the insects they had poisoned. The man in charge of the drop laughed at me, said: “We didn’t come to poison insects John. This was a “targeted” drop, targeted against possums and rats, not against insects.” As if he believed that a universal poison like 1080 could be “targeted” to poison only one species and not another! This was 30 years ago but Dal Minogue reminds us that such beliefs still exist. Veysey and the Robinsons still have much to do.
