Council’s stance threatens West Coast economy

Westland district councillors need to consider whether they want to go down in history as the council that crippled agriculture and biodiversity.

The Animal Health Board (AHB) says that without the ability to use aerial toxins to control bovine tuberculosis (TB) in wildlife, the West Coast will descend into a quagmire of disease from which tourism, biodiversity and agriculture may never recover.

“Councils such as Westland need to consider long and hard the implications of failing to deal effectively with imported pests, particularly possums,” AHB chief executive William McCook said.

“The West Coast’s $700 million per year pastoral agricultural sector will face dire consequences if the option of using 1080 to control TB is lost. The disease would spread unchecked from wildlife to farmed cattle and deer, essentially crippling the local economy.

“The West Coast currently has the highest number of TB infected herds in New Zealand, with 35 of the country’s 98 infected cattle and deer herds located in the region. At its peak in the mid-1990s, more than 330 infected herds were in the West Coast.

“These figures demonstrate the significant progress made in managing the disease through an effective pest control programme, which has to include the ability to apply biodegradable 1080 by air. This work is complimented by movement control restrictions and the effective management of in-herd infection.

“We accept that some infection is caused through livestock movement, but scientific analysis links more than 70 per cent of new disease outbreaks to wildlife.

“The Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, a country struggling to control TB in wildlife and livestock, has stated that the world looks to New Zealand as the benchmark for controlling the disease, which she has described as “foot and mouth in slow motion”.

“The tourism industry may also suffer as the West Coast becomes internationally infamous for being riddled with TB. We urge Westland District Council to take a step back and consider the consequences of heading down this path.

“It knows exactly how important agriculture is to the local economy. West Coasters may demand to know why their councillors would wish to be associated with its potential demise,” Mr McCook said.

ENDS

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