Independent scientific reviews

and official documents on 1080

Is 1080 Humane?

2007	Animal Welfare 16: 449-458	Sherley, M.	Is sodium fluoroacetate (1080) a humane poison?	“Using available data an attempt is made to reassess the humaneness of 1080 using the following criteria: speed and mode of action, appearance and behaviour of affected animals, experiences of human victims, long-term effect on survivors, and welfare risk to non-target animals. It is concluded that sodium fluoroacetate should not be considered a humane poison”
2007	ERMA Agency App. I: Fisher	P 574	Environmental Risk Management Authority Reassessment of 1080	“1080 presents a significant welfare risk- poisoned animals experience several hours of compromised welfare and death, and possible pathological effects in surviving animals. This risk, not just to possums but many other species, should be acknowledged and considered..Given that 1080 is a broad-spectrum toxin, it is essential that the broad spectrum of costs and benefits is considered and not just limited to possums” (Mark Fisher, expert on ethics report)
2011	Wright, J.	Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment	Evaluating the use of 1080: Predators, poisons and silent forests	“A recent report commissioned by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) rated the relative humaneness of 1080 and other pest control techniques used in New Zealand.159 [Beausoleil, N.J. et al, 2010. How humane are our pest control tools?] The results of the NAWAC report form the basis of the humaneness assessments in this report. The NAWAC report rated 1080 as moderately humane.”
2010	Beausoleil, N.J., Fisher, P., Warburton B., Mellor, J.	Part 1. Vertebrate toxic agents and kill traps in mammal species. Unpublished report prepared for Biosecurity New Zealand, Project No. 11326. 86 p.	How humane are our pest control tools?	“The panel also suggested several amendments to the terminology of the original process to better reflect current usage in animal welfare science. These included: replacing ‘humaneness’ with ‘animal welfare impact’ as truly humane control methods are rare… Intermediate impact grades (6) were assigned to 1080, phosphorus and zinc phosphide when applied to possums, representing severe impacts lasting for hours. For 1080, nausea, lethargy, pain and sickness are the most likely experiences, followed by breathlessness, dizziness and anxiety.”
2012	Cowan, P. & Brown, S.	NZ Govt – MPI. Technical Paper No. 2012/28	A Review of Best Practice Management for Humane and Effective Vertebrate Pest Control	“the main possum-breeding season is April-June so that most adult females will be carrying young during winter and early spring. Consideration of the welfare impact on dependent young is not often considered in SOPs for small- to medium-sized mammal pests in New Zealand (perhaps because the main control method is broad-scale poisoning)”
2010	Beausoleil, N.J., Fisher, P., Warburton B., Mellor, J.	Part 1. Vertebrate toxic agents and kill traps in mammal species. Unpublished report prepared for Biosecurity New Zealand, Project No. 11326. 86 p.	How humane are our pest control tools?	“Cyanide was judged to have the least overall impact on possum welfare (median score 4). Moderate breathlessness lasting for minutes was considered the primary negative experience, with potential for sickness, lethargy, headache and nausea. Our confidence in the grade was relatively high.”
2010	Beausoleil, N.J., Fisher, P., Warburton B., Mellor, J.	Part 1. Vertebrate toxic agents and kill traps in mammal species. Unpublished report prepared for Biosecurity New Zealand, Project No. 11326. 86 p.	How humane are our pest control tools?	“Rats lethally poisoned with 1080 were considered to experience severe pain, nausea, sickness, breathlessness and anxiety for hours (median grade 6). The experience of nausea and anxiety in rats is indirectly supported by experimental evidence. Nonetheless, our confidence in the overall grade was low and more detailed information regarding the intensity and duration of negative experiences is required.”
2011	Eason, C., Miller, A., Ogilvie, S. & Fairweather, A.	NZ Journal of Ecology 35(1): 1-20	An updated review of the toxicology and ecotoxicology of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) in relation to its use as a pest control tool in New Zealand	“In birds, damage to wing muscle is a unique feature that occurs at sub-lethal dose levels (Ataria et al. 2000).”
2010	Environment Protection Authority	Annual Report on the Aerial Use of 1080 for the year ended 31 December 2010	Update: Welfare of wild deer – where does 1080 poisoning sit on a relative scale of welfare impact? [research project].	“This research could not be completed due to logistic and regulatory constraints that emerged, and no data was generated to address questions around the humaneness of 1080 poisoning in deer.”