Thread: Decades of 1080….before and after

Originally Posted by Moutere

Exactly. Money talks.
The deers wars came and went. Now deer numbers steadily increase without the same magnitude of pressure from private enterprise as cost, compliance and complexity increase and markets change with the passage of time.

The markets for venison still exist for one example - however they have been severely constrained due to large areas where animals cannot be taken for consumption due to the risk of residual levels of poison detecable in the animal products. Any shipment heading overseas needs to be at zero detectable, or the entire shipment is canned which couold run many tens of containers. Financial suicide to risk it... I know of a few outfits that could start up export tomorrow if not for the risk - this is the same as recently found with 1080 detectable residues in certain honey products.

Poisoning is a solution, that is true but the answer I don't think is solely poisoning and solely 'uncontrolled' air dropping as the broadcast method. Applying the bait by station, logging/documenting and either disposing or recovering of carcasses, and recovery of unused baits as well as funding a research regime for testing and establishing levels of residual poisons across the feral populations would go a long way towards allowing a commercial control mechanism to restart. Against that - you have a lot of potential for spatial conflict on increasing numbers of people wanting to utilise a shrinking allocation for resource (this is the same problem with commercial/recreational fisheries in a nutshell).

Originally Posted by No.3

The markets for venison still exist for one example - however they have been severely constrained due to large areas where animals cannot be taken for consumption due to the risk of residual levels of poison detecable in the animal products. Any shipment heading overseas needs to be at zero detectable, or the entire shipment is canned which couold run many tens of containers. Financial suicide to risk it... I know of a few outfits that could start up export tomorrow if not for the risk - this is the same as recently found with 1080 detectable residues in certain honey products.

Poisoning is a solution, that is true but the answer I don't think is solely poisoning and solely 'uncontrolled' air dropping as the broadcast method. Applying the bait by station, logging/documenting and either disposing or recovering of carcasses, and recovery of unused baits as well as funding a research regime for testing and establishing levels of residual poisons across the feral populations would go a long way towards allowing a commercial control mechanism to restart. Against that - you have a lot of potential for spatial conflict on increasing numbers of people wanting to utilise a shrinking allocation for resource (this is the same problem with commercial/recreational fisheries in a nutshell).

My comparison to the wild venison market was that even with big pressure and big private enterprise the deer endured.
Possums and rats are no different and I would also challenge anecdotal evidence that possums ever declined significantly due to the fur market.

I do however agree that aerial poison is only a tool that one day needs to give way to other maintained control methods. I am genuinely heartened be the inroads being made in the Perth Valley for example.
I am not pro, nor against. Maybe indifferent to a necessary tool.

Originally Posted by Moutere

My comparison to the wild venison market was that even with big pressure and big private enterprise the deer endured.
Possums and rats are no different and I would also challenge anecdotal evidence that possums ever declined significantly due to the fur market.

I do however agree that aerial poison is only a tool that one day needs to give way to other maintained control methods. I am genuinely heartened be the inroads being made in the Perth Valley for example.
I am not pro, nor against. Maybe indifferent to a necessary tool.

What do you believe was the maximum possum population total in NZ ?

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

What do you believe was the maximum possum population total in NZ ?

Anecdotally?

Originally Posted by Moutere

Anecdotally?

From your previous :'Possums and rats are no different and I would also challenge anecdotal evidence that possums ever declined significantly due to the fur market'.

We need a base number to work from

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

From your previous :'Possums and rats are no different and I would also challenge anecdotal evidence that possums ever declined significantly due to the fur market'.

We need a base number to work from

No, you need a number it seems.

Originally Posted by Moutere

No, you need a number it seems.

I wish to consider your previously stated challenge, on what numbers ( evidence ) is it based ?