1080 Part 1- An Overview

I've been posting a lot lately about 1080. No, I don't mean the screen resolution! A few people (mostly overseas) have asked me what it is. So, I'm going to write a few posts about it to clear some stuff up. This one will be a general overview of our country and why we use 1080.

Since I started the page, I was asked by several fellow kiwis to do some stuff about 1080. I started a few times. Some of these next few posts will be made up of material from those drafts. Because of the recent activity from the anti1080 crowd, I thought I would go all out on this.

Here we go.

Sodium fluoroacetate, or 1080, is a highly contentious topic in New Zealand. As of late, anti1080 protesters have tried to make sure everyone knows about their cause. Most of them have abandoned reason, fact, sense or even coherence in an effort that could be likened to a baby wanting, needing, everyone in the street to know that they are upset. I have several posts on my Facebook page that show the level of shit-flinging that they have been reduced to. Death threats, vandalism, alleged killing of native birds... 

So, what is 1080 and why are people making such a big noise over it? We'll get to that.

New Zealand is a unique country. Not just because the Tolkien movies were filmed here either! We have a unique ecosystem, with no native mammals, except for the native bats. Possums, rabbits, stoats, rats, deer, pigs, cats and dogs were all introduced to this country. These introduced animals found their way here by various methods. Pigs and deer were introduced for meat. Possums, for fur. Rats stowed away on ships. The introduced animals' population exploded. They had no predators. They had abundant food. Our native flora and fauna have suffered ever since.

New Zealand's Flora and Fauna

Kōkako (Callaeas cinereus)

New Zealand has a unique range of native birds (including the world-famous kiwi), insects, amphibians, snails, and bats. We have an impressive range of giant trees, ferns and shrubs. Our nation consists of islands surrounded by ocean. Because of the lack of predators here, several species of our birds have evolved flightless. They are unable to fly away from introduced predators because they never needed to. Nature never selected for species that could evade predators because there were none. This obviously poses a problem for birds that can't fly away when they're surrounded by predators. 

Kākāpō (Strigops habroptila)

Several of our species have already become extinct. 19 of these species are listed as extinct due to "Introduced predators". A lot of species are classified as endangered. 23 different species are listed as "Nationally Critical" on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website. 14 are listed as "Nationally Endangered". 32 as "Nationally Vulnerable". The Bush Wren (Xenicus longipes) last confirmed sighting was 1972 and the South Island kōkako (Callaeas cinereus) in 1967. In the last 5 or so decades, these two species have disappeared from our planet. 

The Poison

Dichapetalum cymosum

Potassium fluoroacetate is the naturally occurring salt which is found in about 40 different plant species  (including tea leaves!) around the world including Australia, Brazil and Africa. For anyone that doesn't know, a lot of plants produce toxins to stop animals from eating them. Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) produces the toxin cicutoxin, Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) produces nicotine and anabasine and coffee plants (Coffea arabica & canephora) produce caffeine. The toxin potassium fluoroacetate was first identified in Dichapetalum cymosum or poison leaf (English) or gifblaar (Afrikaans) in Southern Africa. Sodium fluoroacetate is the commercially manufactured salt used as a pesticide. They both have similar toxic effects on aerobic organisms. 

http://www.1080facts.co.nz/overview-of-1080.html

In New Zealand, 1080 is manufactured into large green pellets and dropped over large land areas by helicopters to control pests. We have been doing this since the 1950s, and it works. It's safe. There is a large ammount of research to show that it works and it's safe. 

Yet, people continue to protest its use. When you start looking at the opposition, they seem to make a few good points. The opposition includes hunters, trappers, people that claim to make a living off the land, and just general anti-establishment types. The type of people who are very vocal on social media appears to be the same type of people who believe that chemtrails are a thing. The type of people who are against vaccines, fluoridated water, and GMOs. The type that finds it hard to string a cohesive sentence together, let alone cite sources. I'll get more into the opposition crowd in another post to come. 

TL;DR

1080 is a highly effective poison bait that we use in New Zealand to control pests including possums, rats and stoats. The science and evidence is there to support its use. A small minority of people in this country think it's bad and doesn't have a lot of evidence to back it up.