Dead deer found after 1080 drop

Kaylyn McBrearty.
Kaylyn McBrearty.
The carcasses of four whitetail deer have been found in a small section of upper Wakatipu forest following a Department of Conservation (Doc) 1080 drop in the area a month ago.

Doc says the number found meets its expectations of the poison having a low impact on the area's whitetail herd.

A search for dead deer was carried out across 4sq km of the Dart and Routeburn Valleys from September 18 to 21, about three weeks after Doc dropped 1080-laced pellets across about 20,000ha of the Dart, Routeburn and Caples Valleys.

The search was led by Queenstown-based Lincoln University PhD student Kaylyn McBrearty, who began a study of the area's whitetail herd earlier this year.

The number of carcasses found had been ''in the realms of what we expected'', she said.

The search area was effectively a sample, and she would extrapolate the results to assess the impact of the 1080 operation on the area's whitetail population as a whole.

She had sent tissue samples to Landcare Research for toxicology testing, and hoped to make a preliminary report within a month before publishing a full report early next year.

As well as the four whitetail carcasses found in the search area, a small number of other animals were found ''by chance'', despite not being the focus of the search.

The 12-strong search team included members of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association's Southern Lakes, whose president, David Rider, told the Otago Daily Times last month that members were disappointed Doc had not used deer repellent on the poisoned bait because of the additional cost.

The association had wanted the department to protect the whitetail population because it was a ''pocket of special interest'', Mr Rider said.

Ms McBrearty said she worked with people on both sides of the argument, and did not have a view on either the use of 1080 or deer repellent.

Doc Queenstown conservation partnerships manager Greg Lind said the number of carcasses found had met the department's expectations of a low by-kill, but it was keen to see Ms McBrearty's final statistical analysis.

The decision on whether to use deer repellent in a particular area was based on the advice of local staff, Mr Lind said.

Of the 25 areas earmarked for aerial 1080 operations in the South Island this spring, he knew of only two that would use deer repellent.

It had not been used in upper Wakatipu ''because we didn't believe there would be a significant impact'' and the department had to use conservation funds wisely.

He was not aware of other research into deer by-kill from 1080 operations ''because there's not a lot of herds in New Zealand where the department has a concern''.

However, Doc was contributing resources to Ms McBrearty's project because it supported robust science on the topic.

''We've said all the way through our 1080 operation, among the controversies, that science should be what is used, not people's individual views and prejudices.''

 

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