Please Ask New Zealand to Stop the Mass Poisoning of Animals
BACKGROUND
The New Zealand Department of Conservation is dropping huge quantities of 1080—a notoriously cruel poison and an indiscriminate killer—into forests and wetlands to kill feral cats, possums, rats, and other animals deemed to be “invasive.” Dogs and “nontarget” wildlife can also suffer after consuming the poison or the bodies of poisoned animals. 1080 causes disorientation, diarrhea, vomiting, convulsions, and slow agonizing deaths, which can take more than 24 hours. Although PETA was advised by officials that alternatives are being explored, we understand that the poisoning campaign continues.
More information on 1080 can be found here.
Please politely urge New Zealand Department of Conservation officials to halt the use of 1080—and please forward this message widely!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block
k.wilkinson@ministers.govt.nz , amorrison@doc.govt.nz
Individual
The Honorable Kate Wilkinson
Minister of Conservation
k.wilkinson@ministers.govt.nz
Alastair Morrison
Director-General
Department of Conservation
amorrison@doc.govt.nz
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Wilkinson and Director-General Morrison,
I am gravely disturbed to learn of the deliberate poisoning of animals in New Zealand, and in particular, those poisoned with 1080; it is my understanding that 1080 is being used to kill feral cats, possums, rats, and other animals deemed to be “invasive”, although dogs and “nontarget” wildlife can also suffer after consuming the poison or the bodies of poisoned animals.
This is not an isolated incidence and factually represents an ongoing campaign conducted by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and I am respectfully requesting that alternative, non-lethal methods of population control be implemented instead. Indeed, 1080 is a horribly torturous method of death, causing pain, convulsions, seizures, and a lengthy sickness, and should be immediately ceased.
It is impossible to contemplate supporting any country, via tourism or commerce, that excuses such blatant animal cruelty. As such, please provide immediate relief for these innocent animals and instead be a representation of animal compassion and strive to foster an ideal whereby animals are respected and empathized.
I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
NAME
SEE MORE:
1080 a number
synonymous
with hell
a toxic a poison
that kills all
too well
it is the gift
that keeps giving
a world of endless
cruel
please stop resorting
to killing
and playing the
sadist and fool
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Our Compass 
1080 a number
synonymous
with hell
a toxic a poison
that kills all
too well
it is the gift
that keeps giving
a world of endless
cruel
please stop resorting
to killing
and playing the
sadist and fool
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Please, Stop the Mass Poisoning of Animals…!!!!!
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I was under a false impression you were civilized there. Obviously not. You are low lifes. Cowards. Stupid pieces of shit
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I agree.
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Un paese civile rispetta gli animali e chi non si può difendere. Vergogna!!!
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stop
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Society is judged on how they treat their elderly, disabled and animals…only a callous diabolical vitriolic subhuman would purposely poison a sentient being…
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I agree, thanks.
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Feral animals are not the problem, it’s about time to get rid of the real enemies of wildlife: humans.
Letter sent and shared, TY Stacey
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Thank you, hon.
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Do any of you know ANYTHING about 1080, or how and why it is used in NZ. Or are you content to take Stacey’s one-eyed version as fact?
What Stacey fails to mention is that introduced pest mammals kill over 25 MILLION native animals every year. Many of these are found nowhere else on Earth, and some face certain extinction if pests are not controlled. 1080 is the only effective way of doing this in the remotest parts of NZ’s rugged terrain. It is used extremely sparingly (the Dept of Conservation only uses it on 2% of conservation land!) and is subject to extremely rigourous regulation. It is considered moderately humane – there are a lot of toxins and traps that are far worse. It is also very effective and cost-efficient. Given the paltry amount of funding conservation gets here in NZ, that is an important factor.
To brand conservationists as ‘sadists’/’low-lifes’/cowards is incredibly offensive and, frankly, makes you look ridiculous. We love animals – our lives are given over to saving species from extinction FFS. None of us enjoy killing anything. But we are also realists. We have two choices in NZ – let the pests take over and destroy everything that makes these islands unique, or step in now and give our grandkids the opportunity to see wild kiwi or kokako. Yes, humans are ultimately to blame, but we have a chance to right the wrongs of the past. To do nothing is to be complicit in the fcuk-ups of our ancestors.
Non-lethal methods of pest control are simply not an option. To suggest otherwise is extraordinarily naive. What are you proposing? Rounding up all the possums and sending them back to Australia? Shipping billions of rats, stoats, ferrets, weasels, mice, hedgehogs, pigs, deer, goats, dogs, cats, thar… back to Europe? Come on! A huge ammount of money is spent each year researching potential alternatives to 1080 that are even more humane. So far, we haven’t found anything, but hopefully one day we will. In the meantime, ill-educated rants like the ones I’ve seen on this forum will get us nowhere.
Recently, NZ’s Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment produced an impartial, in-depth report into how and why 1080 is used here and whether it should continue. It summarises the existing scientific research into the toxicology of 1080 and the ecological benefits if using it. Her conclusion was that it is both safe and necessary. I would recommend anyone genuinely interested in finding out more about this toxin read the report (or, at least, the four-page summary) http://www.pce.parliament.nz/assets/Uploads/PCE-1080.pdf
Thanks
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