Anti-1080 misinformation slated

3 September 2004 - Wellington

Contact:Geoff Keey, Biosecurity Awareness Officer, 04 385 7374, 021 426 984

Anti-1080 campaigner Phillip Anderton of Wairoa has admitted he wasn't speaking the truth when he claimed that a kiwi had been killed by 1080. The Wairoa farmer was convicted of wildlife offences in the Wairoa District Court yesterday.

"Over 70 kiwi have been monitored during 1080 operations and not one died from 1080 poisoning. So we're not surprised that Phillip Anderton's claim has proven false," said Forest and Bird's Biosecurity Awareness Officer Geoff Keey.

Phillip Anderton was reported as admitting he used the stuffed kiwi "in a deceptive way" and described criticism of his deception as "irrelevant."

"The misleading claims of some anti-1080 activists are jeopardising conservation efforts to prevent native birds from becoming extinct. It's disappointing that people are prepared to attack vital efforts to save native birds with blatant misinformation. It's astonishing that Phillip Anderton is reported as having no compunction about faking it," he said.

"If 1080 was wiping out native birds, Forest and Bird would be campaigning against it. Instead we are supporting its use because we know it is beneficial to our forests and their wildlife. The facts speak for themselves," he said.

"Research into the breeding success of robins after 1080 control showed robins fledged over eight times as many chicks because of the dramatic drop in predation by pests," he said.

"No monitored endangered brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi, blue ducks or kaka have died in 1080 operations," he said.

"In part of Pureora Forest, the kaka population increased by 33% within six months of an aerial 1080 operation in 2001. In nearby Waimanoa Forest, stoats killed at least five of nine kaka females during the same breeding season," he said.

"Unless there is effective pest control, these wonderful native birds will continue the slide to extinction," he said.