Norwegian Hunters Blasted For Killing Pigeons Whilst DOC Asks To Slaughter An Entire Weka Population

The New Zealand press is today covering the story of the Norwegian  hunters, who filmed themselves shooting Kereru whilst on holiday in New Zealand, facing criminal charges if they ever dare to return to New Zealand. From the Herald:

“The men caused outrage both here and in Norway after posting a video of their trip on YouTube, including a clip where one of the men used a high-powered rifle to shoot a native kereru pigeon.
The video showed a man holding two dead kereru and also had a clip showing a paradise duck being shot illegally with a rifle.
Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson said the Department of Conservation (DOC) had completed its investigation into the hunters and found two paradise ducks had been shot out of season during a four-day hunt near Franz Josef.
“I have received an emailed apology from the five men, and while I accept they now regret what they have done, I don’t consider their excuses to be credible,” Ms Wilkinson said today.
“The callous disregard these men showed for our native wildlife was outrageous and New Zealanders were justifiably angered by the footage they released.”

Do New Zealanders also  feel “justifiably angered” by DOC’s announcement that they’re planning to slaughter the entire population of native Weka (photo above) from the Open Bay Islands? (source 3News)

“3 News has learned the Department of Conservation is planning to kill the entire weka population on two remote islands off the West Coast of the South Island.
The weka is a cheeky, pesky little bird and the mass extermination will see around 100 native birds killed off.
The killing is to protect rare geckos, skinks and an indigenous leech, which are themselves threatened by the weka.
The dead birds may be given to local Maori for food.
Bird lover Mike Bennett is fighting to save up to 100 of the birds, which DOC wants to eradicate from the uninhabited Open Bay Islands off the West Coast.
“The people of New Zealand own those wekas,” says Mr Bennett.
Publicly DOC is saying no decision has yet been taken, but 3 News has obtained internal emails which show its intent on the weka cull.

DOC is planning on advising the Minister of Conservation that “euthanasing” the weka is “legal and defendable” and its “duty”…
..Mr Bennett says Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson needs to bring a stop to the killing.
“I think she needs to take a firm grip on the controls, and say ‘I am the boss’. She has the bureaucrats to advise her but the buck stops with her,” he says.
Ms Wilkinson says she needs for information before making a judgment.
“Well the weka are a native species and of course I have an interest in native species as the Minister for Conservation, but again I have to get the full facts of what’s happening down there,” she says.
Killing one native species to save another is a hard decision and questions will be asked about whether DOC has kept its minister and the public properly informed.

Ric Cullinane, from Fish and Game says it is not only the death of the animals which is disturbing. They’ve broken laws around hunting without a license, hunting outside a season and using a rifle. He  says ignorance is no excuse. There’s no information given to visitors about hunting regulations.

DOC, you may recall, is  responsible for drops of the highly toxic 1080, which indiscriminately kills countless numbers of native wildlife, as well as the possums, stoats and other small mammals that it’s supposed to be targeted at. See posts tagged 1080 for details
After a 1080 drop at Mount Edmont National Park there was allegedly “No Bird life left”.
Back in March we wrote about a possum skin trader, Stu Bracegirdle of Inglewood,  who had visited the park twice since the drop. He said that it’s not just the possums that  were killed, he said there is no bird life left :

“Mr Bracegirdle said he often set traps to catch possums around the Mangaoraka picnic area, 2.3km up from the park entrance and 4.5km below the North Egmont Road.
He could not hear or see any birdlife there now. “It was just dead. There was nothing.
“It’s a funny feeling, eh? I’ve spent 15 to 20 years on the mountain as a trapper, and you always had fantails, tomtits follow you round – there’s just nothing.”
Mr Bracegirdle claimed that when he visited that area following the first 1080 drop in the mid-1990s, he took “heaps of pictures of dead birds”. However, because they were not in J-peg format, DOC would not look at them.”

Talk about double standards! Let’s hope that Kate Wilkinson applies the same reasoning to the slaughter of the Weka as she did to the killing of the brace of ducks and Kereru.

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"Clean Green NZ Is A Joke"

Those were the words of a Brazilian couple who say they were exposed to a "rain of chemicals" from a helicopter spraying gorse whilst they were tramping the Heaphy Track in the Kahurangi National Park, the second largest national park in New Zealand.

The 78.4km Heaphy Track is the longest trail in the park and considered one of the least developed. About 4000 people complete it each year. According to the DOC website there is an annual program to control gorse using Tordon/Grazon brushkiller spays.

This is a report about the tourists, from Voxy:

"Blenheim, Jan 21 NZPA -
A Brazilian couple, who claim chemicals were showered on them while tramping, say New Zealand's "clean, green" image is a joke.

Caroline Leone and husband Rodrigo Ferreira Santos from Sao Paulo saved for their trip-of-a-lifetime to New Zealand because they believed it "was the perfect place for experiencing beautiful nature, amazing national parks and great landscapes".

However, while tramping the Heaphy Track before Christmas they and others were shocked to experience a "rain of chemicals" from a helicopter spraying gorse. Ms Leone said they were aware of a helicopter and aeroplane flying directly over head for the entire five-hour tramp back to Kohaihai. They thought a rescue was being staged somewhere, until arriving at Kohaihai they saw a sign advertising aerial spraying of gorse.

"I have no word to describe the anger I feel right now," said Ms Leone who suffers from a medical condition which is made worse by herbicides and pesticides. "We could not believe what had just happened to us. We find it completely unacceptable and disrespectful as well as a deep violation of our rights not to be told that we were going to be exposed to any chemical spraying whilst tramping in a national park."

Karamea tourist operator Paul Murray, of Rongo Backpackers where the couple stayed, said they were visibly shaken and angry. He described the chemical applications as "a blatant disregard for the rights of tourists and trampers".

Ms Leone said her medical condition, called endometriosis, was exacerbated by herbicides, pesticides and dioxins in the environment so she tried her best to avoid exposure. The couple encountered two other weed spraying incidents in the South Island but say, ironically, they chose to holiday in New Zealand for its clean, green image.

"What happened to us is unacceptable in a country that sells its image overseas as `100 per cent pure and clean'. It's just a joke," said Ms Leone.

"Most times we would see 1080 drops around the tracks and when they spray they don't seem to care if anyone is there. Many of the travellers we met were saying the same thing. New Zealand's 1080 poison and weed spraying programmes will definitely have a big negative impact on your tourism."

The couple are perfectly within their rights to feel so angry and let down, they came to NZ because of its 100% pure image and were then allegedly exposed to herbicide for 5 hours.  But how many other visitors have been exposed to toxins without knowing it?

What are Tordon and Grazon? This is from the Journal of Pesticide Reform:

"The herbicide picloram (commonly sold under the trade names Tordon and Grazon) is typically used to kill unwanted broad-leaved plants on rangeland and pastures, in forestry, and along rights-of-way.

In laboratory tests, picloram causes damage to the liver, kidney, and spleen. Other adverse effects observed in laboratory tests include embryo loss in pregnant rabbits, and testicular atrophy in male rats.

The combination of picloram and 2,4-D causes birth defects and decreases birth weights in mice. Picloram is contaminated with the carcinogen hexachlorobenzene. Hexachlorobenzene, in addition to causing cancer of the liver, thyroid, and kidney, also damages bones, blood, the immune system, and the endocrine system. Nursing infants and unborn children are particularly at risk from hexachlorobenzene.

Picloram is toxic to juvenile fish at concentrations less than 1 part per million (ppm). Concentrations as low as 0.04 ppm have killed trout fry. In Montana, roadside spraying of Tordon killed 15,000 pounds of fish in a hatchery 1/4 mile downstream from the Tordon treatment.

Picloram is persistent and highly mobile in soil. It is widely found as a contaminant of groundwater and has also been found in streams and lakes. It is also extremely phytotoxic, and drift and runoff from picloram treatments have caused startling damage to crops, particularly tobacco and potatoes.

Because of these characteristics, both the Ecological Effects Branch and the Environmental Fate and Ground Water Branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended that use of picloram not be continued. These recommendations were not accepted by EPA when it evaluated picloram in 1995."

With little known about its effects on humans we wonder if anyone will be monitoring the health of the Brazilian couple. Why is spraying being done during the peak holiday season?

TVNZ have also picked-up on this story and have invited people to give their responses to the question: Do you think NZ is living up to its clean, green image?

The following responses were given

cgilmour74 ; 2010-01-21 @ 11:49 NZDT

I'm an Aussie living in Papamoa, and I cannot believe you use poisons to control the rabbit population here. I have seen numerous dead birds and penguins in the sand dunes as a result of the poisons. In addition I was shocked to find out Kiwis don't have to have a recycling bin!!!

Oboist2 ; 2010-01-21 @ 10:31 NZDT

There is lot to be proud of as a New Zealander, however we are subject to "market forces" and the almighty dollar, the same as any other country, and as such, often the most cost effective solutions are sought to control problems. Some problems, brought on by, for the most part, environmental mistakes from the past, sometimes do require solutions that I for one, would rather not see used, but the reality.. We can do better.

Deerstalker ; 2010-01-21 @ 10:19 NZDT

Some of our lakes are dead - mostly from dairy farming effluent [faecal coliforms] and nitrates leaching through the soil into the watertable. Rivers are over tapped for water by dairy farming and end up dry beds by the sea. Our forests are great swathes of chemically poisoned land unfit for human habitation. Our seabeds are being plundered. New Zealand, you were in such a hurry to catch up with the rest of the world, you ended up with its problems.

nicH ; 2010-01-21 @ 09:44 NZDT 

I agree that people should look after their back yard. However, we do promote NZ to be a natural clean utopia to the rest of the world and a lot of our practices do make this claim false. I think we are in a unique position to be an example to the world of how to be clean and green but we seem to be happy to live with the facade and not demand the reality. It all starts with the individual, demand organic and free range produce and meat and, demand better pest and weed control practices.

Click on highlighted links for more about the '100% Pure' myth and the aerial use of the pesticide the couple saw on their trek -  1080. 

Today's posts - click here

DOC And The Pigeon Ratas. When Is A Tree 'Dead'?

We recall an article back in July in the Otago Daily Times which covered the "theft" of Rata Wood from living trees on Pigeon Island. At the time there was a justifiable outcry about the wood having been hacked from the trees as the island is supposed to be one of the few places where it could be found. There was even a photo of a tree to show the damage that had been done (see link )

At the time Queenstown Lakes District Council parks manager Gordon Bailey was quoted thus:

"the council was contacted by staff of Rippled Earth Kayaks who noticed a "freshly chainsawed rata" on the island during a trip. These are big sections of timber that would have taken some transporting by boat," Mr Bailey said.
The council was keen to hear from anyone with information on the theft of the rata.
Mr Bailey said he was disgusted anyone would destroy healthy trees and make off with the wood. "It's a real insult to the community and in particular the hundreds of people that have volunteered countless hours to plant trees on the island," Mr Bailey said. Taking anything from Pigeon Island was illegal and subject to prosecution, he said."

And so it should be.

The offenders were uncovered recently. They turned out to be two Dept of Conservation (DOC) employees and they've just been clobbered with  a bill for £3000 which covered the investigation into the "theft" but there has been no prosecution, just red faces all round, not least for DOC.

However, the story now is slightly different in that the removed limbs were "dead wood" taken from "healthy trees" and they'd been given to the hut owner on the island where the DOC people had stayed to observe and check on the buff weka. Well....it must have been cold in July, no doubt the warmth they generated on the burner would've have been welcomed by all?

Mr Bailey said of the DOC staff:

"In their defence, they had considered that the removed limbs were dead wood, but both have acknowledged that taking the wood from a live tree is an offence. It was an unfortunate case of poor judgement on their part,"

We doubt that people who make a living out of studying Weka are also arboriculturalists who are qualified to make the judgement call, but then, we could be wrong because they obviously knew how to wield a chain saw.

They offenders have been subjected to 'departmental disciplinary procedures' in addition to paying $3,000.

So the question is when does a perfectly healthy tree become 'healthy but with dead bits' -  when  it's needed for the fire?

Time for solar panels.

Taupo Council Passes Anti-1080 Resolution

At last, a council strong enough and with the courage to take on the mighty 1080 machine within New Zealand. Taupo District Council have passed a resolution calling for a sustainable alternative to the highly toxic pesticide 1080 (chemical name sodium fluoroacetate) and for all aerial dropping to cease:

That the Taupo District Council, in accordance with the Section 10b of the Local Government Act 2002, advocate with central government and appropriate agencies, viz:

a. To develop a sustainable alternative possum eradication and trapping programme.

b. For the abolition of all aerial dropping of 1080 poison forthwith.

In their press release the council said

"Taupo District Council will advocate to central government to stop the aerial dropping of 1080 forthwith and to find a sustainable alternative to the use of 1080 poison to eradicate possums.

The vote was close but the resolution was greeted with applause from the small crowd present at Wednesday’s (30th September) SPO council meeting.

The decision* has been awaited with interest with attendance at recent meetings in Turangi and Taupo drawing people from far and wide. Today’s meeting was accompanied by a small but vocal group of anti-1080 protestors with placards on Lake Terrace.

Mayor Rick Cooper stressed it was the method of delivery which caused him the most concern “we need to stop the aerial bombardment by helicopters dumping 1080 indiscriminately over large tracts of land. This method is uncontrolled and the risk to the environment and our waterways is too great – we understand 1080 will be used until the powers find and fund a more sustainable method of eradicating possums but aerial dropping must be stopped forthwith.” He said the Council are very grateful to all of those who have taken the time to present their views and arguments to Council which has allowed Council to make a very well informed decision.

Clr Don Ormsby - Chairman of the TT CBD who put the motion to the vote says “It is good to see that the commitment of a small but passionate community can make a difference and I would like to congratulate the Taupo District Council for listening to its communities and taking this bold stand. I know people who have been trying to do something about 1080 for forty years and if we don’t stand up for them who will?”

The debate on the aerial dropping of 1080 was triggered by the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board which was reacting to concerns from their community about the indiscriminate dropping of 1080 poison baits to eradicate possums. Clr Gary Keepa said there is clear evidence of indiscriminate dropping of 1080 in the Turangi area which he was against."

Council tasked Clr Ormsby to take the lead on this issue and stipulated that there should be no undue burden of cost to the ratepayers."

Good for them we say, we hope more councils follow their lead and put an end to the widespread use of this toxin within New Zealand.

See also "Dept of Conservation and the 1080 Fraud": Link

"Rat Poison Discovered In Dead Penguins"

Taken from NZHerald.co.nz by Eloise Gibson 22 Sept 09

"Traces of the rat poison, Brodifacoum, have been found in two little blue penguins that died in the Hauraki Gulf, a month after the Department of Conservation dropped the poison on Rangitoto and Motutapu islands...

Poison-drop project manager Richard Griffiths said the finding of Brodifacoum was "alarming" and DoC did not know how it had happened....

DoC's resource consent to drop Brodifacoum on Rangitoto and Motutapu envisaged that some of the poisoned cereal baits would end up in the sea, and fishermen reported seeing pellets fall into the ocean at the time...." (See our blog post: Mass poison drops scheduled to wipeoout pests)

Is makes us wonder if these people know what they're doing. We've all read the reports about bait coming down like hail on fishermen in the vicinity of the islands, it doesn't take much to guess that birds in the area, including penguins, may have ingested some of it.

"Brodifacoum is a highly lethal anti-coagulant poison used to control not only rodents but also possums. It's is highly lethal to mammals and birds and extremely lethal to fish. It is a highly cumulative poison.

The American Bird Conservancy cites several studies indicating that secondary poisonings of predatory birds and animals are common due to the extreme persistance of the pesticide within both target and non-target species. It may also be dispersed by insects that feed on poisoned bait without harm and retain the pesticide within their bodies." - Wikipedia

1080: DOC Staffer Censors Wikipedia To Remove Anti 1080 Information

We saw something similar happen with Palmerston North's entry in Wikipedia (see P.N's Wikipedia entry censored), now a DOC employee has edited Wikipedia to remove links to anti 1080 groups. See the actual 23 July Wikipedia edits here: 'article edit' and 'link removed'. There was also a much older edit made from the same IP address on 6 Jan 2009 when a link to the' Stop 1080 Poison Group' was removed.
NZ News Yahoo

"Department of Conservation (DOC) is working to track down a staff member who deleted anti-1080 information from a Wikipedia page while at work.

The staffer deleted a reference to films against the poison on Friday from the online encyclopaedia's "1080 usage in New Zealand" page, The Press reported.

A link to the Stop 1080 Poison lobby group was also removed.

The amendments were traced to DOC through its internet protocol address.

DOC spokesman Rory Newsam told NZPA that IT staff were working to track down where on the department's 1800-computer network the deletion was made, before steps were taken to find out which staff member was involved.

It was hoped the computer used would be identified within the next 48 hours.

The action was a breach of DOC's internet-use policy, Mr Newsam said.

He was unable to say what sort of action would be taken against the employee.

The removed sentences read: "Steve and Clyde Graf have produced two DVDs about the effects of 1080 on New Zealand wildlife.

"The first, A Shadow of Doubt, released in 2006 and rated Adults Only (AO), is a 90-minute feature film. The second film, Paradise Poisoned, was released in July 2009."

Christchurch man Alan Liefting, who set up the "1080 usage in New Zealand" page last September, resurrected the information within 30 minutes.

He told The Press debate was being "stifled" by "bad-faith editing" by public servants wasting their time.

"It's not up to DOC employees to do this sort of thing."

Indeed. Surely they've got far more important things to do with their tax payer funded time than to make so many edits to Wikipedia.

You can find a link to Clyde and Steve Graf's blog here:

Poisoning Paradise - The grafboys.blogspot.com

You may be interested to read an article by Patricia Whiting-OKeefe, PhD (Chemistry), Quinn Whiting-OKeefe, BA (Chemistry, Math), MA (Math), MD, FACMI titled:

DoC & The 1080 Fraud

About a year ago we learned that DoC was routinely and indiscriminately dropping food laced with tonnes of a universal poison, 1080 into our forest ecosystems. Ostensibly, this aerial poisoning of our forests is being done to control possums. DoC asserts that only possums and other so-called “pests” are significantly poisoned. As scientists and life-long environmentalists, we were struck that this contention appears to violate the most fundamental ecological principles as well as common sense.

Is it plausible that one could drop food mixed with a poison that kills all animals into a semi-tropical ecosystem and only negatively affect possums and other “pests”? This question is particularly relevant now in light of the upcoming aerial 1080 drop into the Coromandel watershed.

In science, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We resolved to determine whether the extraordinary claims of DoC have the weight of extraordinary evidence behind them. The answer is unequivocal: they do not. After months of investigation, we found that 1080 research, almost entirely sponsored and controlled, by DoC sustained six conclusions, which given the large cost and risks of DoC’s aerial 1080 program we find truly astonishing.........read on here

The complete revision history of the censored Wikipedia page, with associated IP addresses may be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1080_usage_in_New_Zealand&action=history

See: Youtube videos