Money

Source Author Year Title Quote
TV3News online 29/01/14 Simon Wong 2014 Expanded 1080 drop to curb ‘plague’ of rats “Dr Smith addressed detractors of the poison by saying the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and the Environmental Protection Authority make plain that 1080 is safe and the only practical tool that will work” Reason must triumph prejudice about poisons when the very species that define our country at stake”. Money for the programme will be spent over the next five year out of DOC’s $335 million annual budget.”
Scoop Independent News 22/5/14 Murray Dench 2014 Why is there an argument over 1080? “This year is a mast year and the Department has received around 12 million dollars in extra funding for aerial poisoning operations to limit rat populations (remember aerial 1080 does NOT kill mice). We know from the science that the operations are going to generate very large rat populations in the years following the poison drops. What is the difference between high rat numbers created by a mast year and high rat numbers created by the control operations themselves?”
Stuff.co.nz 30/1/14 B. Moore 2014 War on pests stepped up with ‘battle for our birds’ “the Department of Conservation needs more funding to keep up the fight, Forest & Bird said today.”
Scoop Independent News 12/2/14 Sporting Hunters’ Outdoor Trust 2014 Conservation Minister Nick Smith on Thin Ice “I’m angry at the ecological carnage, the destruction and the gross misuse of taxpayers’ money,” he said. “Minister Smith’s “Battle For Birds” is based on a wild unscientific assumption.”
Scoop Independent News 12/2/14 Sporting Hunters’ Outdoor Trust 2014 Conservation Minister Nick Smith on Thin Ice “Generally unknown was that government had a vested interest in spreading 1080 as the State Owned Enterprise “Animal Control products Ltd.,” manufactured baits stored and distributed the poison.”
NZ J Ecology 36: 56-63 C.J. Pekelharing et al. 1998 Seasonal variation in the impacts of brushtailed possums (Trichosaurus vulpecula) on five palatable plant species in New Zealand beech (Nothofagus) forest “About $10 million is spent annually on controlling possum populations…To justify continued expenditure the agency responsible, the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC), will require evidence that control is benefiting vegetation.”