Call for debate over use of 1080 on council land

It is time for the Dunedin City Council to have a "grown-up conversation" with residents about whether 1080 should continue to be used on council-owned land, Cr Fliss Butcher says.

At a planning and environment committee meeting on Tuesday, Cr Butcher, a vehement opponent of 1080, asked if the committee could, at a future meeting, debate the merits of consulting the community.

The poison is added to bait and laid on the ground or dropped from the air to control possums, rats and stoats, which eat native birds, as well as to stop possums infected with Tb transferring the disease to cattle. But opponents say it indiscriminately kills wildlife such as deer and birds, as well as domestic pets, and poses a threat to humans and waterways.

While she did not believe 1080 was used in urban reserves such as the Town Belt, it was used in plantations managed by council-owned company City Forests, Cr Butcher said yesterday.

"I would dearly love to see it stopped. I am passionately and spiritually opposed to blitzing the land with poison."

Cr Butcher's call came a week after Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright released a report which compared the safety, effectiveness and cost of 1080 with other pest-control methods. Dr Wright concluded many of New Zealand's native birds would be lost without the use of the poison and recommended not only that its use continue but that use be stepped up.

Cr Butcher said yesterday she "couldn't believe" the report, calling it "hugely surprising and very disappointing".

It did not fit with the Environmental Risk Management Authority's decision in 2007 that 1080 should continue to be used with tightened controls because there were no suitable alternatives yet, she said.

"Dr Wright is so far out of touch with her report. You only have to look at anti-1080 websites and talk to those who oppose its use."

Cr Butcher, who unsuccessfully sought a review of 1080 use about 18 months ago, said she believed she had much support for her stance from "scientists, mums and dads and people across the spectrum".

But she did not think her latest request would gain traction.

"It's too controversial an issue for most of my colleagues. But I will be the squeaky wheel on this one. It is time to have a grown-up conversation. Can't we at least discuss alternatives?"

Dr Wright, in Dunedin yesterday to speak at an energy seminar, said she had no opinion about Cr Butcher seeking a review.

"That's democracy. My job was to write the report and explain the report and its recommendations ...

Obviously, people are entitled to their views, but I would like them to read the report and consider it, because we did the report very analytically and systematically and did meet with people at the forefront of the opposition and sought to really understand their concerns so we could address them all."

New Zealand owed a debt of thanks to 1080 opponents, she said.

"It wasn't used well in the past - we tended to throw it around - but because of the opposition to it ... more controls have been put on it and it is now very tightly controlled."

Dr Wright said she knew her report would be "newsworthy", but the reaction had been less heated than she had anticipated.

Although her office had received many emails and telephone calls, both in support and critical of her findings, "mostly it has been pretty polite".

allison.rudd@odt.co.nz