“No birds … no Kiwi, Tui, Weka, Kereru … all gone” – an observation on the West Coast from an 82 year old

Posted recently in 1080 social media pages (name supplied):

Graham says:
“Just before Christmas my worker and I were clearing back overhanging foliage from a footpath in a built up area. Along came an elderly gentleman on his little scooter thing they have these days. He wanted to stop for a yarn so we obliged. He was 82 and had just made one last journey back home to the area he grew up in … the West coast. He went to all his childhood and teenage years haunts and spent time, a lot of it in and on bush tracks.

I asked him did he notice much in the way of change since those days?

The Birds he said … the place used to be full of native birds but all he saw on this whole trip there was one Weka. Everything has gone. The bush is now dead. No Kiwi, no Weka or Tui, even the Kea had gone.

“The place used to be lousy with Keruru, now nothing. He has no doubt whatsoever that 1080 is to blame. It’s just destroyed everything.

Where he lives now, and I have no idea where that is, he said he had planted lots of Kowhai and every year the Tui came and he used to sit on the front porch and watch them … this year …  nothing … not one bird.

But of course a lifetime’s observation is unscientific and counts for nothing.”

EWR comment:

“… a lifetime’s observation is unscientific and counts for nothing” … note that even the independent science from bona fide scientists counts for nothing. Only the ‘science’ that the authorities sign off is considered acceptable. Remember the recent post citing Reihana Robinson in ‘The Killing Nation’ and the revelation that 70% of the Department of Conservation’s ‘scientific’ studies justifying the aerial distribution of 1080 are done in-house? 

So called anti-1080 people aren’t actually terrorists. They simply want clean, non poisoned water & food, at least 70% independent science … & pest control that really does target pests without killing our natives. It is simply not acceptable to kill 10K birds in one single 1080 drop. 

RELATED POSTS:

THE DECIMATION OF OUR NATIVE KEA – WE ARE WATCHING ONE OF NEW ZEALAND’S GREATEST ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDIES TAKING PLACE!

GO INTO A 1080-POISONED FOREST, SEE FOR YOURSELF SAYS A NZ BUSHMAN OF 35 YEARS – NON TARGET BIRDS ARE DYING

IS 1080 SAVING OR DESTROYING OUR BIRD LIFE? HEAR FOR YOURSELF THE POISONED VS NON-POISONED FORESTS

Birds collected following a 1080 drop in the Kahurangi National Park, clearly, many are natives (Photo: Jim HIlton)

Weka collected after a 1080 drop on Great Barrier Island (Photo: Tom Hunsdale)

Header Photo: Tui in Kowhai tree (envirowatchrangitikei)

---

NOTE: For further articles on 1080 use categories at left of the news page.

If you are new to the 1080 poisoning program, a must watch is Poisoning Paradise, the doco made by the GrafBoys (banned from screening on NZ TV, yet a 4x international award winner). Their website is tv-wild.com. Their doco is a very comprehensive overview with the independent science to illustrate the question marks that remain over the use of this poison. There are links also on our 1080 resources page to most of the groups, pages, sites etc that will provide you with further information to make your own informed decision on this matter.

NOTE: Periodically & randomly the facebook share option will disappear from posts on the front (this) page. If it is not appearing, click on the heading of the article to go to its own page, usually the share button will show up there. (All else failing copy & past the url to your facebook page).