Thread: 1080 KILLING FISH

Kiwijames and others who are concerned about viable solutions as alternatives to 1080.

The mantra put out by the pro 1080 vested interests and even repeated by the PCE is that 1080 operations typically cost about $8-$10 per hectare. An official independent audit of the Animal Health Board records proved the true unveiled cost to AVERAGE $57 per ha.

A very average hunter can easily cover 15 km in a round trip in bush terrain in leas than aday, especially if all he has to carry is his lunch and a cyanide tube or some traps.

Possums typically will access baits from about 2-300 metres; rats about 100 metres.

Assuming our typical semi trained DoC worker can manage 15km loops of bait or trap laying per day. 15km *1000 m * 200 metre swath coverage equals a 300 hectare treated area per day. lets assume the operator returns on anther day to recover animals, fur or traps. This means an actual coverage of AT least 150 ha per day. Now lets assume a 20% downtime factor for acess, preparation, and admin. This leaves us with 120 hectares per day actual treated area.

Now apply the AVERAGE actual audit proven cost that AHB pays for 1080 operations , overheads and admin. $57 * 120 ha equals $6840.00.

Now do you understand why AHB and DOC (whose costs will be even higher than the AHB)) don't want to encourage trapping alternatives?

Why, it would create possum and rat trapper millionaires and solve the unemployment problem overnight, and of course, put the 1080 poisoners out of a job REAL QUICK; wouldn't it KIWIJAMES.

To keep a lid in this, the poisoners pay certain trapping contractors very high hourly contract rates but with obligations to sign "non disclosure agreements' in the hope the truth remains suppressed and the trapping industry remains entrapped by it's own internal wrangling.

Imagine the queue of applicants for a registered trapping professional certification course when the true earning potential was equated to the rip off being perpetrated on the NZ taxpayers by the AHB and DoC for 1080 poisoning. Even paying trappers $500 per day would be a huge win compared to continuing with the pollution of NZ with 1080; let alone $6840 per day! (Oh, sorry, lets deduct $40 per day for traps and tucker; -- $6800-00 per day. ---

Go figure---

Then think about the 85,000 ha they are about to poison in the Maruia / Lewis Pass area, where the beech mast did not happen and where there are bugger all rats. By the way; 85,000 ha at $57 equals $4,800,000-00; of our money. Doesn't that make you happy?